The origin of menu keywords
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Hi ho I'm new to this forum, and I hope I'll be using it alot in the future. :) Now my question isn't a technical one about programming, but more about the structure of a menu. You know these very familiar menus where you got File, Edit, View, ... I've got a question about the first one: File. Almost all applications I see use this one, but sometimes it seems to be losing its use even in the widest meaning of the word 'file'. For example, Windows Live Messenger (or MSN Messenger in the past), uses File. When you open it you get actions like logout, or change your status. Even if you think of file as the file of contacts in your messenger, the actions are not corresponding. Another example, Privoxy. It has nothing to do with manipulating files or whatever, it's used as a proxy program. Still it has the dropdown menu File, with only one action: Exit. File seems to be used as a general keyword where you put all the general actions for your application, like quitting it. So am I right if the menu word 'File' is actually being abused in a way? And is there another better keyword to be used for programs that have nothing to do with file manipulation? Thanks in advance
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Hi ho I'm new to this forum, and I hope I'll be using it alot in the future. :) Now my question isn't a technical one about programming, but more about the structure of a menu. You know these very familiar menus where you got File, Edit, View, ... I've got a question about the first one: File. Almost all applications I see use this one, but sometimes it seems to be losing its use even in the widest meaning of the word 'file'. For example, Windows Live Messenger (or MSN Messenger in the past), uses File. When you open it you get actions like logout, or change your status. Even if you think of file as the file of contacts in your messenger, the actions are not corresponding. Another example, Privoxy. It has nothing to do with manipulating files or whatever, it's used as a proxy program. Still it has the dropdown menu File, with only one action: Exit. File seems to be used as a general keyword where you put all the general actions for your application, like quitting it. So am I right if the menu word 'File' is actually being abused in a way? And is there another better keyword to be used for programs that have nothing to do with file manipulation? Thanks in advance
It's a standard that people are used to, so they know where to go for general operations even if they're not actually file related. I often change this for the name of the application and people rarely notice - they just seem to go for the first menu, but this is non-standard.
Dave
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Hi ho I'm new to this forum, and I hope I'll be using it alot in the future. :) Now my question isn't a technical one about programming, but more about the structure of a menu. You know these very familiar menus where you got File, Edit, View, ... I've got a question about the first one: File. Almost all applications I see use this one, but sometimes it seems to be losing its use even in the widest meaning of the word 'file'. For example, Windows Live Messenger (or MSN Messenger in the past), uses File. When you open it you get actions like logout, or change your status. Even if you think of file as the file of contacts in your messenger, the actions are not corresponding. Another example, Privoxy. It has nothing to do with manipulating files or whatever, it's used as a proxy program. Still it has the dropdown menu File, with only one action: Exit. File seems to be used as a general keyword where you put all the general actions for your application, like quitting it. So am I right if the menu word 'File' is actually being abused in a way? And is there another better keyword to be used for programs that have nothing to do with file manipulation? Thanks in advance
Hi, for a long time there have been guidelines in place about GUI design; both Apple and Microsoft early on suggested to always have File, Edit, View menus to the left, and Help to the right. The File menu is supposed to hold actions pertaining to the whole document (hence New, Open, Save, ...) and the whole app (Preferences, Quit, ...). The Edit menu normally holds actions on the document control, the View menu controls how things are shown. There are guidelines/conventions for the shortcuts too (such as CTRL/C = copy). I'm all in favor of these GUI guidelines, since they tend to reduce the discomfort for novice users, and increase the efficiency for all users. However there are applications (such as games) where the menu names don't really fit the app domain; then it's up to you to cope with that. :)
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]
This month's tips: - before you ask a question here, search CodeProject, then Google; - the quality and detail of your question reflects on the effectiveness of the help you are likely to get; - use PRE tags to preserve formatting when showing multi-line code snippets.
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Hi, for a long time there have been guidelines in place about GUI design; both Apple and Microsoft early on suggested to always have File, Edit, View menus to the left, and Help to the right. The File menu is supposed to hold actions pertaining to the whole document (hence New, Open, Save, ...) and the whole app (Preferences, Quit, ...). The Edit menu normally holds actions on the document control, the View menu controls how things are shown. There are guidelines/conventions for the shortcuts too (such as CTRL/C = copy). I'm all in favor of these GUI guidelines, since they tend to reduce the discomfort for novice users, and increase the efficiency for all users. However there are applications (such as games) where the menu names don't really fit the app domain; then it's up to you to cope with that. :)
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]
This month's tips: - before you ask a question here, search CodeProject, then Google; - the quality and detail of your question reflects on the effectiveness of the help you are likely to get; - use PRE tags to preserve formatting when showing multi-line code snippets.
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I'll just choose something else then. :) I think it's enough to be the first dropdown menu for people to know that's the general tab. I'll take something like 'Program' or so.
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Jitse, If you're interested in this kinda thing, maybe have a read up on HCI. Regards, Gareth.