C H A P T E R 4

Menus

Contextual Menus

A contextual menu provides convenient access to often-used commands associated with an item. Contextual menus open when the user presses the Control key while clicking an appropriate interface element or selection.

Figure 4-11 A contextual menu for a text selection in a document (left) and an icon in the Finder

■Behavior: A contextual menu behaves like a standard pull-down menu, except that moving the pointer off a contextual menu and onto a standard pull-down menu doesn’t activate the second menu; the user must click once to close the contextual menu and again to open the second menu.

Contextual menus that are too long to display fully use the scrolling indicator (a downward-pointing triangle) and scroll like standard menus.

Don’t set a default item. If the user opens the menu and closes it without selecting anything, no action should occur.

■Contents: You define the items in your application’s contextual menus. Include a small subset of the most commonly used commands in the appropriate context. For example, Edit menu commands should appear in the contextual menu for highlighted text, but not a Save or a Print command.

Never provide a contextual menu command that is not also accessible through the menu bar. Use submenus with caution and keep them to one level.

64Contextual Menus

Apple Computer, Inc. June 2002