Re: Updating the main menu
Re: Updating the main menu
- Subject: Re: Updating the main menu
- From: "M. Uli Kusterer" <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 03:11:33 +0100
Warning: User-interface fetishism ahead ;-)
At 14:31 Uhr -0500 12.11.2003, Cameron Hayne wrote:
In the discussion referred to above, it was found (upon questioning) that
many users didn't consciously notice the change in the menus - they always
found the menus items they expected to find (for the mode they were in).
Cameron,
this only works if done *very* carefully, though. E.g. like in
ResEdit, where you open an editor for a particular type of resource,
and that appends a menu of its own to the menu bar.
AppleWorks, OTOH, is an example of how *not* to do it. I myself, my
dad, lots of other people I've seen working with it (since the
ClarisWorks days, actually) are completely confused because text mode
has fonts, styles and sizes as three menus in the menu bar, while
draw mode has it as three submenus in the "Format" menu.
But I guess you could argue that this isn't an explicit mode switch,
and thus explicitly doesn't fall into your category. After all, these
menus change whenever you click in a text item in a draw document.
So, I guess I could agree on mentioning that in some rare cases
where the change in menus is the direct result of a conscious mode
switch by the user, it is acceptable to add/remove a menu that is
specific to this particular mode. However, it should be noted that
this does not include moving around menu items or entire (sub)menus.
Furthermore, if there are several such modes, and each mode has a
menu of its own, these menus must be succinctly distinct in name,
function and appearance.
I'd still like to know what Eric is doing that requires this. Eric,
would you mind sharing that with me (us?). Maybe I can come up with a
better approach that helps improve the design.
--
Cheers,
M. Uli Kusterer
------------------------------------------------------------
"The Witnesses of TeachText are everywhere..."
http://www.zathras.de
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