Mystery meat navigation

Such interfaces lack a user-centered design, emphasizing aesthetic appearance, white space, and the concealment of information over practicality and functionality.

[11] The provision of alt attributes or tooltips which are revealed on mouseover are not considered a satisfactory solution, as these techniques only introduce an element of exploration that has been likened to minesweeping ("let's roll over everything and see if any surprises pop up").

[6][12] Technology writer Shelley Powers also notes that MMN often relies on JavaScript, and that this can be detrimental to usability if a browser's scripting is disabled, and to search engine optimization.

[13] Flanders writes, "The typical form of MMN is represented by menus composed of unrevealing icons that are replaced with explicative text only when the mouse cursor hovers over them".

It also presents particular difficulties for blind and visually impaired users who make use of screen reader software that reviews a list of available links on a page.

Mare Imbrium Mare Tranquillitatis Mare Serenitatis Mare Crisium Mare Fecunditatis Mare Nectaris Mare Frigoris Mare Frigoris Mare Frigoris Oceanus Procellarum Oceanus Procellarum Mare Humorum Mare Nubium Mare Cognitum Mare Vaporum Sinus Aestuum Copernicus Kepler Tycho Kaukasus Apeninnen Alpen Plato Moon
This image map is an example of mystery meat navigation. For example, finding where to click on Mare Humorum is difficult without hovering over every place (which is not possible on devices that have no cursor, such as tablets). Also, it may not be readily apparent that the image is a clickable map instead of only a simple picture of Earth 's Moon .
Comparison of iconographic navigation schemes; in the upper example, the user must deduce the meaning of the pictograms or discover their implied target by progressively hovering the mouse cursor over each icon; in the lower example, each icon is explicitly labelled with a textual expression of the intended target.