Should selecting by first letter show as many as possible that start with that letter?

Question

When I am in a list and I press a letter to jump to the first entry that starts with that letter why does it leave that entry on the bottom of the visible entries? It should make the entry the top visable entry so that many entries that start with that letter can be seen.

In more concrete terms if I am selecting a state from a drop-down list and press "w" it should make "Washington" visible at the top instead of the bottom so that I can see Wisconsin without scrolling.

Agreed? Are there good reasons to keep it the current way?

From: http://jamesjava.blogspot.com/2005/05/gui-designers-take-note-selecting-by.html

Answer 1

I agree. Especially if you have to continue hitting that letter to get to the next option.

Answer 2

Agree

(for voting)

Answer 3

I think that it may be just the default way Windows handles changing the selected index of the default combo box control. It'll scroll down only as much as it needs to show the selected item, it doesn't care about what comes before or after.

Answer 4

How about having the first option starting with the letter you pressed be in the middle of the ones that are seen?

To extend your example, if you press "N" in the State dropdown, the choices you see might be:

• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska <-- First "N" choice
• Nevada
• New Hampshire

Now you can see not only what comes after, but also what comes before your choice. This allows you to find the first couple of options beginning with your choice and the last couple of options beginning with the letter before your choice.

Finding a state that begins with "N", but is near the end of the "Ns" (like "North Carolina"), is faster if you press "O" because it's closer to "Ohio" than "Nebraska":

• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio <-- First "O" choice
• Oklahoma
• Oregon