01 Safe Triangle. 1 of 95.
01/POINTER INTENT/1 of 95
Safe Triangle
The menu predicts where your cursor is going, not only where it is.
Best experienced with a pointer.
The problem
Submenus snap shut the instant your cursor drifts off the parent, so reaching a nested item feels like threading a needle.
The solution
Submenu remains active while the pointer trajectory is moving toward the submenu.
Experiment
Play with the values
0.75
120ms
12px
12
How it works
- When the pointer leaves the parent item, the menu does not treat that as a decision to close.
- A short history of pointer positions shows the path, not only the latest coordinate.
- That path is projected forward to see whether the cursor is heading toward the submenu.
- The projected path becomes a safe region between the item and the nested menu.
- While the pointer stays inside that region, the submenu remains open so the diagonal move can finish.
Seen in
Mega menus
Large flyout panels keep nested columns open while you sweep diagonally toward a deeper item.
Nested navigation
Sidebar or tree items stay active as you move toward child links without the parent collapsing.
Context menus
Right-click submenus remain open during diagonal travel to a nested action.
Tree navigation
Folder trees let you reach deeper nodes without the branch snapping shut mid-move.