Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ULKYVX.BITNET!DFJOHN01
From: DFJOHN01@ULKYVX.BITNET (GMAIL_FLAG_PERSONAL_NAME)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: RE: select multiple items MDEF
Message-ID: <8903140439.AA21958@jade.berkeley.edu>
Date: 14 Mar 89 02:44:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of Louisville
Lines: 26

I have given a lot of thought to your MDEF idea but after checking out Apple's
Human Interface Guidelines I'm afraid that it may not be so great an idea. The
reason is that if someone needs 'multiple selections' then it is probably
time to implement a dialog box with appropriate check and radio buttons, edit
text fields and popup menus. This gives the user a visual reference for the
selections made and data entered.

A good example of this is PageMaker. Under the TYPE Menu are hierarchical menus
FONT, SIZE, LEADING, and TYPE STYLE. These set the selected text (or the text
about to be keyed in) to those settings. But, instead of having to set or
change these settings by going to each menu and selecting the desired choice,
another menu item under the TYPE Menu is TYPE SPECS. Selecting it brings up a
dialog box which allows the user to set the font, size, leading and type style.
So, in this case, the user has a choice. Also, the user can 'type ahead' and
have edit text fields filled in followed by a return key before the dialog box
has a chance to appear on the screen.

So, I guess I would have to see a MDEF such as you describe in action before I
could personally rule it good or bad. I hope that the above helps from a
part-time programmer and full-time user.

David F. Johnson
Typesetter II                    Student
Printing Services                Junior
Houchens Bldg                    Engineering Math and Computer Science
University of Louisville         Speed Scientific School