Remember when every web site had to have tabs because that’s what Amazon.com did, so it had to be good? Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Well Amazon finally retired them, realizing that they didn’t scale when you have 40+ departments in your site. They’re now using scroll-down menus which I have mixed feelings about. Yes you can cram a lot into them, but then the user has to be more careful about the path they follow with their cursor, for fear of opening another (unwanted) submenu along the way. Amazon’s implementation is addressing that issue by forcing you to open the menu through its top right. Smart, though you have to kind-of learn to hover over the down arrow. Funny to see the Kindle featured in three different areas.
