menus

A vertical list of commands with icons, descriptions and dividers, the shared body used inside menus, panels and side sheets.

A modal list of choices that slides up from the bottom of a phone screen in response to something you just did, with cancel at the end.

A short menu of app actions hung off the app icon itself, opened by a long press or a secondary click before the app is even running.

A select whose options open level by level, each choice narrowing the next, used for country then state then city style data.

A keyboard-summoned overlay whose single search box finds and runs any command or destination in an application by name.

The loose everyday word for any panel that opens downward from a trigger, whatever the panel holds and whatever the trigger does with it.

A button of three stacked horizontal lines that opens a site's main navigation, usually in a panel over the page.

A menu of secondary actions opened from a trigger of three vertically stacked dots, usually at the end of a row, card, or toolbar.

The panel opened by pressing question mark that lists every shortcut in the application, grouped by area.

An overflow menu whose trigger is three horizontal dots, usually sitting at the end of a row or a card.

A large navigation panel that drops from a top level item and shows many links at once, grouped into columns with headings.

A permanent horizontal row of menu titles (File, Edit, View) whose menus open on click and then follow the pointer along the row.

A small application controlled item living in the system menu bar or tray, usually an icon that opens a compact panel of status and controls.

A button whose only job is to open a menu, marked with aria-haspopup and usually drawn with a downward chevron.

The control in an assistant interface that picks which model answers, usually a menu carrying a short description of each option.

A menu of destinations rather than commands, where opening an item moves you somewhere instead of running an action.

A menu holding the actions that do not fit in the visible interface, opened from one compact trigger.

A menu whose items sit around the point of invocation, so a choice is made by direction and distance rather than by reading a list.

A tall tabbed toolbar that replaces menus, grouping commands into labelled sections with the important ones drawn larger.

The strip of formatting controls above or beside an editor, whose buttons report their state from wherever the caret sits.

A closed control that shows the current choice and opens a list of options when pressed, with no typing.

The system panel of destinations and actions for sending the current item elsewhere, populated by whatever apps are installed.

A floating action button that fans out into three to six smaller related actions when pressed or hovered.

A two part control where the main area runs a default action and an attached arrow opens a menu of related alternatives.

A menu that opens sideways from a menu item, marked by a trailing arrow, and stays open while the pointer travels diagonally toward it.

A grouped row of controls acting on the current view, sharing one tab stop and moving focus between its items with arrow keys.

A select whose popup is a tree, so options can be chosen at any depth with parents collapsing over their children.

One command word or icon wired to different outcomes depending on where it sits, so having used it once teaches the reader nothing about the next one.

A horizontal menu that keeps as many items visible as fit and moves the rest into a More control, recalculating whenever the available width changes.

Typing a forward slash in a composer to open a menu of actions, where choosing one runs it rather than inserting the words into the message.

A menu of actions for one specific object, opened on that object by right click, long press, or the context menu key.

A press held in place for a moment before release, used to reveal secondary actions, enter a rearrange mode, or open a contextual menu.

A radial menu that can be answered before it appears: waiting shows the menu, while a confident stroke in the item's direction selects it outright.

Operating a menu in one gesture: pressing the trigger opens it, dragging moves through the items while the button stays down, and releasing over an item commits it.

The alternate pointer press, usually the right button or a two-finger tap, reserved for opening contextual actions rather than activating.

Hovering a dragged item over a container until it opens, so a drag can travel through nested destinations without being dropped and restarted.

Buttons hidden behind a list row that a partial sideways swipe reveals, so destructive or common actions live under the item itself.

Scaling or fading a panel out of the control that opened it by putting its transform origin on that anchor, so the panel reads as belonging to its trigger.

A hint on a trigger that says something will open and what kind of thing it will be, a menu, a listbox, a dialog, before the reader commits to pressing it.