Typeahead is important for experienced users when response is slow. Voice mail gives an example of this. Menu Design Naming Choose names carefully. Where a selection invokes another menu use the selection as the title of the invoked menu. Use familiar and consistent terminology.
Mnemonic letters help if one it to have type ahead.
Movement of a highligt bar is also possible. Mouse selection is the preferred mode for GUIs. Embedded Menus are found in the Web interface and other hypertex interfaces. Lynx is an interesting example where a text based interface is provided for the web. It permits the user to select whether they want to move the cursor or select by number.