C H A P T E R 9

User Input

Selecting Text With the Arrow Keys

See “Extending Text Selection With the Shift and Arrow Keys” (page 173).

Selections in Graphics

There are several conventions for selecting graphic objects. This section describes two ways to show selection feedback; other situations may require other solutions.

An object-based graphics document is a collection of individual graphic objects. To select an object, the user clicks it once. The object is then bracketed with handles, which the user can use to move or resize the item.

In object-based graphics applications, there are two ways to select more than one object at a time. A user can drag a dotted rectangle and select every object that falls completely within the rectangle’s outline, or the user can use the Shift key to select particular objects.

In a bitmap-based graphics document—where images are a series of pixels rather than discrete objects—a user selects the range of pixels enclosed within a selection tool.

Selections in Arrays and Tables

To select a single field (cell), the user clicks in it. The user can also select a field by moving to it with the Tab or Return key.

To select part of the contents of a field, the user must first select the field, then click again to select the desired part.

A user should be able to select a row or column in a table by clicking a header, for example. Tables can also support Command-click for selecting discontinuous fields.

Pressing the Tab key cycles through the fields in an order determined by your application, and Shift-Tab navigates in the opposite direction. Typically, the sequence is from left to right, then from top to bottom. Pressing Tab from the last field selects the first field.

The Return key selects the first field in the next row; Shift-Return selects the previous row. If the concept of rows doesn’t make sense in a particular context, the Return key should have the same effect as the Tab key.

192Selecting

Apple Computer, Inc. June 2002