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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac,net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Menubar items without menus are AWFUL
Message-ID: <1713@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 17:42:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: dciem.1713
Posted: Thu Oct 10 17:42:41 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 10-Oct-85 20:16:04 EDT
References: <3281@nsc.UUCP> <5387@mit-eddie.UUCP> <1701@dciem.UUCP> <445@calgary.UUCP>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Distribution: net
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 47
Summary: 


>The idea of clicking on a menu item causing an action in itself, without
>a subsequent selection, is TERRIBLE.
>
>The present interface makes "browsing" through menus a very desirable
>activity for a user to engage in. It lets him know what commands are 
>available, their command key equivalents, etc. If a menu item is followed
>by "...", he knows that he can furthermore select it to see what its
>dialog box is like, without worrying that it might do something he doesn't
>want. (The dialog box had *better* have a "cancel" option, or we'll send
>around the boys...)
>

The idea of having a special symbol to show that a menu item will bring
up a sub-menu is a good one.  Why not extend it to the menu bar, for
consistency.  In general, selecting a menu item (and I'm not just talking
Macintosh) causes something to happen; that something is often a new level
of menu.  Consistency demands that the items on the menu bar be treated
like any other menu items.  If their names are followed by "...", then
they should bring up sub-menus when they are clicked.  Otherwise, they
should DO something.  For example, a menu-bar item called "Quit" would
be much nicer than the non-obvious sequence "File ... Quit."  Similarly,
"Save" could often be useful on the menu bar instead of in a sub-menu.

The only use for sub-menus is to reduce the number of things that have
to be scanned in a single menu level, and to ensure that those things
that belong conceptually together are scanned together.  Major controls
for the operation of the computer/application should normally be at the
top level, readily accessible without having to be sought in places that
might be obscure to the unskilled user.

While I'm on the topic, the idea of command-key equivalents for menu items
scattered all through the menus of an application is TERRIBLE.  The command
keys should be unique to a sub-menu, NOT to the whole set of menus and
sub-menus.  It would be better if the menu-item name could be typed as
a whole in order to cause its action, as an alternative to (a) clicking
on the menu and sub-menu items, or (b) typing a sequence of 2 or more
command characters (only 1 for top-level menu items on the menu bar).
For consistency, again, all menu items should be treated alike.  All menu
functions should be accessible from the keyboard (especially if your
mouse is dead), not just some of them, and those by obscure and inconsistent
single keystrokes.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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