Drop-down menus: Brief history of web drop-down technologies

Why are good drop-down menus so difficult to get?

A drop-down menu is a simple, straight-forward concept. So "why do I have to look so hard to find a good one?" you might ask.

Here are some of the reasons:

Most plug-in technologies don't support anything which could be turned into a drop-down menu. For example, Macromedia Flash is, unfortunately, completely devoid of any such programming concept.
The only technologies which support drop-downs in any sense are DHTML (javascript) and java.
DHTML can't cross frames. You have to add complex raw code to every page. Even then, DHTML doesn't float above other plug-ins such as flash. Nor is it scalable (i.e. able to do big menus). There are further shortcomings. Sadly, the web has become cluttered with almost a hundred companies offering DHTML drop-down menus which, due to the fundamental limitations of the DHTML, can never provide serious solutions.
That leaves java as the only viable technology capable of producing truly framecrossing, convenient and commercially viable drop-down menus. But....
1. Java didn't include explicit support for drop-downs until version 1.1.
2. Because of the Sun/Microsoft arguments, most browsers still only support the 1.1 technology.
3. The official 1.1 technology is extremely primitive: you can't have any icons; fonts are extremely limited; colours are difficult to set in a reliable manner. Basically you're stuck with clunky system-coloured 3D blocks which function in one way only.
4. Java 1.3 and 1.4 technology is better, but still insufficient for any self-respecting web designer, and few people have 1.3 or 1.4 anyway.
Why is java so half-hearted about drop-down menus? Well, basically because the industry powers (that means: Sun, Microsoft, Apple and Symantec) made a strange decision to treat drop-down menus as a security hazard and limit their abilities.

So what has IMINT.COM done that is so special?

IMINT.COM is the only company in the world which has looked at this problem and decided to overcome it. Every other company which offers drop-down menus uses one of the inadequate technologies described above.

Hovermenus: an early JDK 1.0.2 solution

The earliest technology we produced to get round the problem was before java 1.1 became standard. Hovermenus persistently hovered at the bottom left of the screen. They were well ahead of their time in terms of graphical configurability - images, colours and icons could all be user-defined.
Signed menus: a nearly ideal solution

Java 1.1 allowed much more professional menus which could be attached to specific points of the web page. The main obstacle to a professional appearance was the ugly "warning message" which the industry (Sun, Microsoft, Apple and Symantec) required to be attached to the bottom of submenus. This damaged what was otherwise a perfect drop-down menu solution and required "signing" to overcome it. As a signed applet presents every user with a one-time trust request, the solution was still less than ideal, although commercially viable.

Within the framework of signed drop-down menus, IMINT.COM perfected many of the behavioural and aesthetic features of the menus. Graphical effects, animations, flying and exploding submenus, checkbox menu items, scrolling submenus - these and many more "dream" features were added.
The X-Bar: a perfect solution

At the end of 2002, IMINT.COM programmers achieved what we had long sought after: entirely new and revolutionary programming techniques allowed the removal of the signing requirement.

The first applets to use this new technology were X-Bar Ultramenu IIT and X-Bar Ultramenu IIS. Almost every feature of the previous generation of signed menus was able to be implemented - the few exceptions are listed below.
Alien Menus: mass production of the X-Bar

During 2003, we launched a new dedicated drop-down menu site to fully exploit the potential of the X-Bar technology. Over 300 menu variants were released. In particular, the new site offered an online configuration tool assisting in rapid, documentation-free development and design.

Technology differences (or "should I upgrade?")

X-Bar applets with versions marked 8.0 and upwards use a radical new technology for achieving true framecrossing submenus with total optical configurability that goes far beyond the narrow constraints of traditional AWT or even Swing programming. It provides this new technology together with almost universal compatibility and dispenses with the controversial series 6/7 need for signing.

Customers considering the move from earlier technologies to series 8 drop-down menus should familiarise themselves with earlier features which series 8 cannot yet reproduce,

The following lists the crucial differences.

Series 6/7 includes: iPOP Pro-X and iPOP Pro-XQ applets, X-Bar Powerbars I and II, X-Bar Ultramenu I	Series 8 includes: X-Bar Ultramenu IIS and IIT, Alien Menus
Requires signing	Does not require signing (but you can if you want)
Launching: rollover launching is available as an option for site visitors with Microsoft, Sun or Symantec java interpreters, but not Apple java interpreters	Launching: Version 8.0: a click is required to launch the first submenu; after that usually only a mouse-movement is required. Version 8.1: rollover launching is available as an option for site visitors with Microsoft or Symantec java interpreters, but not Sun or Apple java interpreters.
Remote launching: remote submenu launching via exposed methods is also possible and implemented in some versions; this means that the applets can have a "zero-interface" and be used to add, for example, pop-up functionality to flash movies, or right-click context menus for HTML elements.	Remote launching is scheduled as a feature for people with Microsoft or Symantec java interpreters.
Submenu-embedded form elements such as text fields are technically possible and supported in some versions.	Not supported.
A variety of submenu launch effects are possible, such as spiral fly-ins and animated expansions of the submenus, with speed and direction controls.	Under consideration.

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