Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ulysses!hector!eric
From: eric@hector.UUCP (Eric Lavitsky)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Standardization
Keywords: Menus
Message-ID: <10744@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Date: 20 Oct 88 15:31:54 GMT
References: <1314@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Sender: netnews@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com
Reply-To: eric@hector.UUCP (Eric Lavitsky)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 93

In article <1314@nmtsun.nmt.edu> wbnsnsr@nmtsun.nmt.edu (William Norris) writes:
<...
<PROPOSED STANDARD MENUS
<-----------------------
<
<Boing (Hopefully a ball, but currently the (c) symbol)
<	About...           ?  About box for program
<	--------------------
<	Help                  Help for this program (also HELP key)
<	--------------------
<	Preferences	      Run preferences
<* How about the possibility of letting users add to the end of this menu
<* names of programs.  Selecting the item would run that program.

I see no point to have the names of other programs to run in a standard
application menu. This is what the WorkBench/CLI is for. This one would
be near and dear to Randy Spencer's heart. He tried putting a "boing"
ball menu up and got burned a little because while it's possible to
have imagery in a menu item, you can't have it in a menu strip. If it
doesn't take much code to do, having images in menu strips might be a
resonable enhancement for Intuition.

<File
<	New                N  
<	Open...            O  Will post standard file requester later.
<	Close              W  
<	Save               S  \ Will post standard file
<	Save As...         A  / requester for save later.
<	Delete...          D
<	--------------------
<	Print...           P  Also, print-related options should go in
<			      this section.
<	--------------------
<	Quit               Q  Programs should inform the user that everything
<			      has not been saved, and if he really wants to
<			      quit.  Information on requester boxes will come
<			      later.

Delete doesn't belong here - use the WorkBench/CLI.

<Edit
<	Undo               Z  (Redo after Undo has been done)
<	--------------------
<	Cut                X  \
<	Copy               C   | Save information to clipboard 0
<	Paste              P  /
<	Clear
<* Cut... Copy... Paste... could be used if program allows saving
<* to other clipboards.

Looks fine to me except you have two menu selections now with Amiga-P
as the key shortcut. Perhaps Amiga-I (for "Insert") would be more
appropriate for paste?

<The font menu
<* First, programs should check how many lines are on the screen
<* Longer menus can be created on an interlaced screen and when
<* WB 1.4 is here, overscan.
<
<* Font names should be listed alphabetically as menuitems
<* Font sizes should be listed numerically as subitems (menumenuitem)
<* If you want to get fancy, include a `?' at the bottom of the sizes
<* to allow the user to enter any allowable font size, and scale
<* an existing font.  This routine will be provided in the library.
<* Read: Hardly any extra code to implement, but many advantages!
<
<* Question:  Should the font menu be arranged 1) across several columns
<*            if there are that many fonts or 2) with a down arrow
<*            at the bottom of the menu and scroll down the menu for
<*            the additional columns?

There should not be a seperate font menu - there will always be systems
with more font names than can fit nicely into one menu, unless one
implements scrollable menus/submenus (like on my 630MTG or the Mac/Too).
The font selection should be offered as a menu thusly:

	Font...		F

under the edit menu perhaps since changing the font can be thought of
as an edit operation. Selecting this should bring up a requester with
a scrollable list of font choices. I think ProWrite from New Horizons
is a good example of how to do this. In fact, any menu selection that
runs the risk of having too many entries should do this, or it should
fill the menu with as many as it can for quick selection and provide
a "More..." selection at the bottom that brings up a requester with
a complete list.

-Eric

ARPA:	eric@topaz.rutgers.edu or eric@ulysses.att.com
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