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From: jqj@cornell.UUCP (J Q Johnson)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: menu system design pointers?
Message-ID: <3606@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Aug-85 07:09:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: cornell.3606
Posted: Fri Aug  2 07:09:07 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 10:16:58 EDT
References: <42700001@hpcnof.UUCP> <3019@topaz.ARPA>
Reply-To: jqj@cornell.UUCP (J Q Johnson)
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 14

re:  menus selected by number versus menus selected by mnemonic letter

You have to consider the context of the menu usage before deciding on
a best strategy.  Consider, for example, a large menu of 9 items.  A
natural way to display it might be in a 3x3 grid, in which case a natural
way to select would be to use the numeric keypad.

Using the numeric keypad is particularly attractive if you have a long
sequence of menu selections.  It is less attractive if menu selections
are interspersed with text input, since the keypad use implies loss of
homerow registration.

Personally, though, I don't like menu systems unless I have a pointing
device such as a mouse, light pen, or touch screen.