C H A P T E R 1 3

Menus

Menus present lists of items—commands, attributes, or states—from which the user can choose. Menus are based on the interface principle of see and point: People don’t have to remember commands or options because they can view all options at any time.

Menus are user interface elements that users refer to frequently, especially when they are seeking a function for which they know of no other interface. Ensuring that menus are correctly organized, are worded clearly, and behave correctly is crucial to the user’s ability to explore and access the functionality of your applications.

Menus appear in several different forms in the Mac OS X interface. This chapter describes pull-down menus in the menu bar, Dock menus, and contextual menus. These types of menus are illustrated in Figure 13-1.

Figure 13-1 Menu bar, Dock, and contextual menus

Menu bar menu

Dock menu

Contextual menu

Menus that are part of controls—for example, pop-up menus, command pop-down menus, and the menus in pop-up icon buttons and bevel buttons—are discussed in “Controls” (page 249). Note that some concepts from this chapter are applicable to those menu types as well.

Menu Behavior

When people use menus, they usually make a selection within their data and then choose a menu item. This behavior follows the see-and-point paradigm of identifying what needs to be acted on and then specifying the action by choosing a menu item. To choose an item in a menu, the user positions the pointer on the menu title and drags to the desired item. Each item is highlighted as it is selected. No action happens until the user releases the mouse button with the cursor over a menu item. (See “The Mouse and Other Pointing Devices” (page 95) for more information on mouse usage and behavior.) People can move the pointer off a menu before releasing the mouse button without initiating any action. They can open and scan menus to find out what features are available without having to actually perform an action. When a menu item has been activated, it blinks briefly.

Menu Behavior

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2008-06-09 | © 1992, 2001-2003, 2008 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.

C H A P T E R 1 3

Menus

A user can also open a menu with a click. The menu stays open without the user having to continue holding down the mouse button. The user can then move the pointer to an item to select it or can move the pointer anywhere on the screen without losing sight of the menu. Once a menu is opened, it remains open until another action forces it to close. Such actions include:

■Choosing a command from the menu

■Moving the pointer to another menu title

■A click outside the menu

■A system-initiated alert

■A system-initiated application switch or quit

Even if all of the items in a menu or submenu are unavailable, the menu or submenu title is not dimmed. The user can still open the menu, but all of its items are dimmed to indicate that these items are not available in the present context. Figure 13-13 (page 172) shows a menu with unavailable menu items in the open and closed state.

As a general rule, avoid creating long menus. Long menus are difficult for the user to scan and can be overwhelming. If you find that there are too many items in a single menu, try regrouping them; you may find that some of the items fit more naturally in other menus.

If a menu contains more items than are visible onscreen, the menu can scroll to allow the user access to all of the menu items. A scrolling menu is shown in Figure 13-2.

Figure 13-2 Scrolling menu

	A downward-pointing indicator at the bottom of the scrolling menu indicates that there are more items.
	When the user starts to scroll down, an upward-pointing indicator appears at the top of the menu to show
	that some items are no longer visible in that direction. When the user drags past the last visible item, the
	menu scrolls to show the additional items. When the last item is shown, the downward-pointing indicator
	disappears.
162	Menu Behavior

2008-06-09 | © 1992, 2001-2003, 2008 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.