C H A P T E R 1 5

Controls

The background of a scrolling list can be white or white striped with blue. If the list contains a large number of items that can look similar at a glance, it might be easier for users to view them on a striped background.

In most cases, it’s a good idea to provide an introductory label for a scrolling list so users understand the types of items that are available to them. Use the regular system font for this label. The list items should be in view font (12-point Lucida Grande Regular), by default.

Scrolling List Specifications

Control sizes: You determine the size of a scrolling list. As a rule of thumb, make sure that the list displays only the full height of lines of text (don’t cut text off horizontally), and make sure that the scrolling increment is one list element.

Scrolling List Implementation

Scrolling lists are available in Interface Builder. Start with a table view object and ensure that it is sized so that only the vertical scroller is displayed. Then, in the Attributes pane of the inspector, set the number of columns to 1 and deselect the Headers checkbox. To create a scrolling list using Application Kit programming interfaces, use the NSTableView class.

View Controls

The controls described in this section allow users to modify how information is presented to them in a window. Some view controls allow you to provide additional information or functionality that remains hidden until users choose to see it, and others give you a frame for organizing and displaying data, such as a list.

Important: The controls described in this section are suitable for use in the window body; they should not be used in the window-frame areas. See “Window-Frame Controls” (page 249) for controls designed specifically for use in the toolbar and bottom-bar areas in your window.

Disclosure Triangles

A disclosure triangle allows the display, or disclosure, of information or functionality associated with the primary information in a window. For example, in a System Preferences authentication dialog (shown in Figure 15-76) a disclosure triangle reveals details that most users don’t often choose to see.

2008-06-09 | © 1992, 2001-2003, 2008 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.

C H A P T E R 1 5

Controls

Figure 15-76 A disclosure triangle can reveal more dialog contents

A closed disclosure triangle

An open disclosure triangle

Disclosure Triangle Usage

Use a disclosure triangle when you want to provide a simple default view of something but need to allow the user to view more details or perform additional actions at times. Specifically, you can use a disclosure triangles in either of the two following ways:

■To reveal more information in dialogs that have a minimal state and an expanded state. See Figure 15-76 for an example of a disclosure triangle in a dialog.

■To reveal subordinate items in a hierarchical list. See Figure 15-80 (page 325) for an example of a disclosure triangle in a hierarchical list.

Don’t use a disclosure triangle to display additional choices associated with a specific control, such as a pop-up menu. If you need to do this, use a disclosure button (see “Disclosure Buttons” (page 322)).

2008-06-09 | © 1992, 2001-2003, 2008 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.