The menu is one of the most widely used elements of a graphical user interface. The objective of a menu system is to provide various commands and functions to the user in an easy way so that the user can just select the desired operation from a given list instead of typing a complex command in the command prompt.

In a conventional menu system the menu items or options are hard-coded in the computer program. The programmer or developer composes menu items at the time of development. The developer tries to include all options that he feels may be required by the user in future. Although the items are decided from “requirement analysis” and other studies, it is difficult to know the exact need of a user at a future period of time. This leads to inclusion of a lot of items in the menu, which leads to user confusion and frustration.

Thus there is a need for adaptable menu that can be changed according to user requirement. The items of the adaptable menu should change from user to user and from time to time depending on the program context and likelihood of user selection.

This article defines the Ideal Final Result of a dropdown menu system, defines the desirable functions of an adaptable menu, finds and solves the contradictions faced in achieving the desirable functions, and illustrates six selected cases on adaptable menu from US patent database.

Toolbar is one among the popular elements of a graphical user interface. The other popular elements of graphical user interface are buttons, menu, scrollbar, dialog box etc., all of which provide easy access to various functions of a GUI
system.

A toolbar often does a similar function as the menu but with certain differences. A menu has the advantage of holding a large number of items without needing any additional screen space. In contrast, each button on the toolbar permanently occupies some space on the screen. It’s not possible to implement large number of functions through a toolbar, as they will occupy more and more valuable screen space. However, the toolbar has an advantage as it gives a single click access to any function unlike a menu system where the user has to navigate through sub-menus to ultimate discover the item he is looking for.

This article explores the desired features of a toolbar and the ideal features of an advanced toolbar. The contradictions are described from a TRIZ perspective and solutions are derived using Inventive principles. Besides the article illustrates 10 inventions on improving Toolbars selected from US patent database.

Both toolbar and dropdown menu are used popularly in a graphical user interface with a similar objective of providing easy access to the internal functions. Often the same functions are provided through both menu and toolbar.

Both toolbar and dropdown menu have their own advantages and disadvantages. A menu can provide more options occupying less real estate, while toolbar can provide a single click access without navigating through trees and branches.

As a menu and toolbar system shares many common objectives, it is often useful maintain some relationship to coordinate between both the elements of a GUI system. The relationships can be easy as both of them often share the same internal function. For example, the print option in a menu will (most likely) call the same function as the print button on the toolbar.

This article discusses the similarities and differences between a dropdown menu and toolbar. Five inventions trying to focus on both menu and toolbar are illustrated in the article.