C H A P T E R 5

Windows

Consider a drawer part of the parent window; don’t dim a drawer’s controls when the parent window has focus, and vice versa. When full keyboard access is on, a drawer’s contents should be included in the window components that the user can select by pressing Tab.

Utility Windows

You can create a modeless utility window, such as a tools palette, to present controls or settings that affect the active document window. Utility windows are useful for keeping extremely important controls or information accessible at all times in the context of a user task. Because utility windows take up screen space, however, don’t use them when you can solve the need with a modeless dialog (the user changes settings and then closes the dialog) or by adding a few appropriate controls to a window frame.

A user can open several utility windows at a time; they float on top of document windows. When a user makes a document active, all of the application’s utility windows should be brought to the front, regardless of which document was active when the user opened the utility window. When your application is inactive, its utility windows should be hidden. Utility windows should not be listed in the Window menu as documents, but you may put commands to show or hide utility windows in the Window menu.

Figure 5-15 Examples of tool palettes (utility windows)

Apple Computer, Inc. June 2002

C H A P T E R 5

Windows

A utility window may have a title. An untitled utility window should nonetheless have an 11-pixel title-bar region for dragging the window.

Utility windows cannot be minimized (the minimize button is always unavailable in utility windows). If you don’t want users to access the zoom button, you could show only the close button. Don’t hide only the zoom or only the minimize button; a utility window should have either all three title-bar controls or only the close button, as shown in Figure 5-15. Carbon developers can specify which of these controls is visible with the ChangeWindowAttributes function.

Figure 5-16 Utility window controls

For information about designing palette windows for Mac OS X, see “Using Small Versions of Controls” (page 160).

The About Window

The About window, also called the About box, is a window that contains your application’s version and copyright information. It should be modeless so the user can leave it open and perform other tasks in the application.

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Apple Computer, Inc. June 2002

C H A P T E R 5

Windows

All text in an About window should be centered, except for the optional descriptive text, which is flush left. If you want to include a scrolling list (for credits, for example), put it between the descriptive text and the copyright information.

An About window (or splash screen) is the appropriate place for product branding elements; avoid putting them in document windows and dialogs.

For Cocoa developers, About windows are automatically defined by the Application Kit. Carbon developers need to create their own (using a .nib file, for example).

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Apple Computer, Inc. June 2002