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I am in middle of a confusion, where I am not able to choose between accordion menus and drop down menus?

I have a menu of links, just the way I have shown in below Wire frame. [Learning Apps] On click of any Link, I have 3-4 other sub menus.

What should be feasible - An expanding accordion or a sub-menu just opening right beside parent menu

What is more OK, from usability perspective ?

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Sachin Gawas
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  • I think your question might get more attention if you reword your question to better convey what you are asking. Try to focus on one question or thought and write complete sentences about that topic to provide background and context. Then close with a simple one-sentence question if you can. – sholsinger Jul 31 '12 at 14:36
  • Sub menus are ok for navigating to a different place where maybe that primary menu does not exist any more or is not displayed the same way. But accordions are good for navigating within the context or framework of the current page - or at least making that seem more like that is the case. Accordion menu links that jump to other pages where the accordion is no longer present can make the ui feel a bit broken – Roger Attrill Jul 31 '12 at 14:47
  • This may help you somewhat... http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/23181/when-is-it-bad-practice-to-use-an-accordion-control – Lisa Tweedie Aug 01 '12 at 11:13
  • Does clicking on "Content", "Test", "online class" take you to a unique page? Or is it just a way to access sub-menus? 2. Once user is in a subsection under "Announcement", is she likely to go to another subsection? For example, there could be 4 sub-sections under "Announcement" but those sub-sections could be sequential in nature. 3. Will you have breadcrumbs to indicate user's current place? (e.g. Announcement > Subsection A)
    • – Jung Lee Aug 01 '12 at 20:21
  • @JungLee Few menus like Content, Test, Online Class will have sub menus. Few of these will take you to unique page, like Announcement. Sub menus could be like this -> Create, List, Manage. I am not showing breadcrumbs anywhere. I hope this answers your queries – Sachin Gawas Aug 02 '12 at 04:38