hicks-law-menus

What problem does it solve?

Hick's Law overviews how decision-making time grows with the number of options, and this skill fixes slow, overwhelming menus by using the right information architecture and interaction pattern for the menu size.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Menu-size ladder: Select the appropriate pattern (inline controls, dropdowns, grouped menus, searchable comboboxes, or command palettes) based on how many choices users must evaluate.
• Navigation structuring: Organize top navigation and sidebar menus into groups sized for scan-readability and working-memory limits (aiming for 5–7 per level).
• Scalable long-tail patterns: Use grouped dropdowns, search/type-to-filter, recents, fuzzy matching, and contextual toolbars to prevent Hick’s Law cost from compounding at scale.
• Anti-pattern detection: Identify and correct common failures like flat 50-item dropdowns, “more is more” toolbars, and “context menu of doom.”

Quick Start

Design a menu or command palette that limits visible choices to about 5–8 items per group and routes the long tail into searchable filtering or a command palette when the list grows beyond that threshold.