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From: nazgul@alfalfa.com (Information Junkie)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif
Subject: Re: Activating Help Callbacks for Insensitive Widgets
Message-ID: <910514111254.184@sun.alfalfa.com>
Date: 14 May 91 15:12:54 GMT
References: <1991May13.225657.820@hellgate.utah.edu>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
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> to are in pulldown menus of the main menu bar.  During our initial
> design we expected that the user could ask for help on the grayed out
> widget to find out what is required to light it up.  Did we goof?

Personally I think that the binding of keyboard focus to help is pretty
poor.  I can see how it's necessary for keyboard only things, but it
just doesn't work for mouse driven apps.  There ought to be a standard
accelerator (maybe using a button) that gives help on the current mouse
pointer as well.

But in the meantime you do have a problem - for two reasons.  You can't
get help on insensitive items, and you can't get help on menu items.
Even if you put the help callback in each menuitem all you'll ever get
is the help on the menubar.  Very frustrating.

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I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.