If an operation or action is to happen immediately after the activation of a choice, provide an action choice.

When a user activates an action choice, immediately begin to perform the action.

Provide access to all action choices through menus, push buttons, or both.

Do not use an action choice to request further parameters in a secondary window; use a dialog choice instead.

Do not use an action choice to temporarily display a list or menu; use a cascading choice instead.

If an action choice can possibly refer to more than one control in a window, use the following rules to determine which control is affected:

Display a question message when the user must respond to a question before continuing the task, but only when the task can be suspended indefinitely without harm and other user activity is unlikely to affect the continuation of the task at a later time.

Display a warning message to alert the user to a possible danger and to allow the user to take some alternative action or to withdraw the task request.

Display an error message when a response is needed before the task can be continued (or if it is likely that other user actions might make the task impossible to continue) and if it is essential that either the situation be corrected or the task canceled.

Display the appropriate symbol to the left of each action message as follows (except in cases of bidirectional language support; see Chapter 11):

Display an action message in a secondary window.

Make the window that can currently receive keyboard input the active window.

If an explicit focus policy is in use, and an active secondary window is closed, move focus to the window that the active window is dependent on.

When a window receives input focus, provide a visible difference in the window's title bar. For example:

If you support a group technique, support its corresponding adjustment technique variants.

Allow an adjustment technique to be used if and only if the previous selection technique used in the scope was:

When using an adjustment technique, if the current selection region is selected instead of toggled, the following should occur:

When using an adjustment technique, if the current selection region is toggled instead of selected, the following should occur:

Compose your application with at least one main window.

A main window contains a client area and, optionally, a menu bar, a command area, a message area, and scroll bars. The client area contains the framework of the application.

The default size of the application's main window must be large enough to accommodate a typical amount of data, but should not fill the entire physical display size to minimize visual conflicts with other applications.

Include resize corners in any main window that incorporates a scrolling data pane or list.

If your application has multiple main windows that serve the same primary function, close and iconify each window separately.

If your application has multiple main windows that serve different primary functions, each window should be able to iconify independently of the other windows.

If your application has a menu bar, use a horizontal bar at the top edge of the application, just below the title area of the window frame. A menu bar organizes the most common features of an application. It contains a list of menu topics in cascading buttons; each button is associated with a distinct pull-down menu that contains commands that are grouped by common functionality.

The menu bar should contain only cascading buttons.

If the user chooses Exit, or in any other manner indicates that the application should be terminated, but if there are changes to the current file that have not been saved, display a dialog box that asks whether the changes should be saved before exiting.

If your application uses a File menu, it must include the choices in Table 1-1, with the specified functionality.

If your application does not provide an <object-type> or Selected menu, but allows the user to select data within the window and manage settings for the selected data, then provide a Properties... choice as the last item in the Edit menu.

If your application includes a Help menu, include the set of choices in Table 1-2, with the specified functionality, when the actions are actually supported by your application.

When a pop-up menu is popped up in the context of a selection, any action that acts on elements should also act on the entire selection.

Display an information dialog box such that it does not interrupt the user's interaction with your application.

An information dialog box conveys information to the user that does not require immediate attention so it does not need to be modal.

Dim (make insensitive) any menu choice that is not currently an appropriate selection.

Dimmed controls cannot be activated by the user and should appear only when the inactive state is short-term (that is, there is something the user can do within the application or the desktop environment to make the control become active). When the control is persistently inactive (because of the current configuration of the application or system, or a particular set of companion software is not currently installed), remove the control rather than dim it.

If radio buttons are used in a menu, use separators between each set of radio buttons and other menu items.

If your application uses a tear-off choice in a menu, make the tear-off choice the first element in the menu.

Make all menus wide enough to accommodate their widest elements.

Every dialog box should have at least one button that either performs the dialog box action and dismisses it or dismisses the dialog box without taking any action.

If your application provides settings that control the behavior of the application, display these settings in an application properties window that is accessible from an Options menu.

Controls that relate to advanced features should not be displayed with the set of options initially displayed to the user. The typical user should be presented with only those options that are necessary to use the basic functionality of the application. Users looking to access advanced functionality within the dialog box may use the <Category> option button (see Figure 7-1). If the number of advanced controls is few, or the settings for these controls are highly related to the settings of basic controls displayed in the dialog box (that is, the settings of the advanced controls change when the user changes settings for basic controls), you might choose to provide an expandable dialog box.

If your application provides settings that control the behavior of the application, display these settings in an application properties window that is accessible from an Options menu.

The file selection dialog box should recall the directory location that was previously set by the user.

For example, if the user brings up Save As and navigates to /users/jay/letters to save the file, the next time the user brings up Save As, the file selection box should be in the directory /users/jay/letters. The directory, however, should not be retained once the user has closed the primary window. When the user brings up Save As for the first time, it should resort to the default directory.

Include a Close button in the About dialog box. Other buttons are optional, such as Help and More.

Push buttons that affect the dialog box as a whole, either by modifying its contents or layout, invoking the action of the dialog box, or dismissing the dialog box, should be located at the bottom of the dialog box.

There should be only one row of buttons at the bottom of a dialog box. If your application has dialog boxes that contain several global buttons, you may need to create two or more rows of buttons at the bottom of the dialog box. The last row should contain the standard dialog box buttons (OK, Reset, Cancel, and Help). If a dialog box contains buttons that are not related to the dialog box as a whole, but relate to a specific control within the dialog box, the buttons should be located with the control to which they relate.

If your application provides an Apply button within a dialog box, also provide an OK button or <command> button that performs the dialog box action and then dismisses it.

During a drag operation, change the current pointer to a drag icon.

When the user presses Cancel, end a drag-and-drop operation by canceling the drag in progress.

When the user releases the TRANSFER button (or the SELECT button) when not over a drop target, end a drag-and-drop operation.

After a successful transfer, place the data in the drop zone and remove any transfer icon.

If your application removes data upon the completion of a drag-and-drop operation, do so only if the drag-and-drop transfer has completed successfully.

If a drag-and-drop operation has been canceled or failed, do not remove the data or object that was the source of the drag.

After a failed transfer, keep the data at the drag source and do not place it in the drop zone. Remove any transfer icon.

If your application provides any drag-and-drop help dialog boxes, include a Cancel button for canceling the drag-and-drop operation in progress.

Install applications in folders in the Application Manager, not directly on the Front Panel or subpanels. For consistency, only CDE desktop components will install in the Front Panel or subpanels. Users may choose to rearrange their Front Panel, but applications should not do this without user consent.

Display a warning dialog box that allows the user to cancel the destructive action about which the dialog box is providing a warning. The user needs to have a way to cancel an operation that can cause destructive results.

When your application displays a dialog box, place the input focus at the first text field into which the user is allowed to type an entry, or at the first control within the dialog box with which the user should interact.

Input focus should always be placed at a predictable and intuitive location. Do not force the user to set focus at the control most likely to be used when the window is displayed.

There should always be exactly one control within any window of your application that has the input focus if the window in which it resides has the input focus.

Dialog boxes should never block input to other applications within the desktop (that is, they are not system modal) unless it is essential that the user perform no other action on the desktop until the user responds to the dialog box.

Dialog boxes should never block access to other functionality within the application (application modal) unless it is essential that the state of the application remains unchanged until the user responds to the dialog box.

If your application does not use the values of global environment settings, such as multiclick timeout intervals, drag thresholds, window color settings, mouse left- or right-handedness, and so on, but instead uses its own values for these settings, then provide one or more Options dialog boxes that allow the user to change the values for these settings.

In general, you should not override the value of settings treated as global environment settings. The user controls these settings through the CDE Style Manager. If you choose to ignore these settings and specify your own settings, then your application will behave inconsistently with other applications in CDE. If you nevertheless choose to provide your own values, then you must provide the user with a way to make your settings consistent with the rest of the desktop.

If you use a tool bar, it should appear only in windows with a menu bar.

Tool bars should contain only those operations that are already available to the user in your application's menus. All items in a tool bar should be redundant.

When an action represented by a tool bar icon is unavailable to the user, make that icon insensitive, with the associated stippled appearance. If a menu item is made insensitive, make the corresponding tool bar item insensitive as well.

Place the tool bar container directly under the menu bar. It has the same width as the window, as well as similar height to the menu bar.

Align command buttons along the bottom of the dialog box. When the window is expanded to show a secondary pane, then move the buttons to the bottom of the secondary pane.

Separate the primary pane from the secondary pane with a separator.

If a window is resizable, allocate any sizing changes to the pane that contains scrolling lists or text fields whose displayed length is less than their stored length. If both panes contain scrollable controls, distribute size changes evenly between the two panes. If neither pane contains scrollable controls, the window should not be resizable.

The expandable window should have one button that changes its label based on the state of the window.

The expand button should have two labels that reflect the two states of the expandable window accurately. The current label indicates to the user what will happen if the user clicks the button.

Examples of possible labels are Basic and Options, Expand and Contract, and More and Less.

If the window or dialog box contains a scrolling list positioned to the far right side of the pane, do not align the drawn button with the scroll bar. For example, the button should be aligned with the list, not the scroll bar.

Applications must remember the state of each window or dialog box (expanded or not expanded) independently (not collectively). The state should be changed only by the user and should always be preserved until explicitly altered by the user.

When using the area adjust click technique, and the adjustment policy is to reselect:

When using the area adjust click technique, and the adjustment policy is to enlarge, the new selection region is larger than the following:

When using the area adjust click technique, and the adjustment policy is to balance:

If the current selection region does not include an anchor element, or if the anchor element is no longer in the selection region, identify the anchor element to be the element, if any, in the region nearest the anchor point.

After a mouse-based area adjust click technique is used, place the active cursor as follows:

Support the keyboard-based area adjust swipe technique when the last operation within the scope used an area-based selection technique.

When using the area adjust swipe technique, and the adjustment policy is to reselect:

When using the area adjust swipe technique, and the adjustment policy is to enlarge, the new selection region is larger than the following:

When using the area adjust swipe technique, and the adjustment policy is to balance:

If the current selection region does not include an anchor element, or if the anchor element is no longer in the selection region, identify the anchor element to be the element, if any, in the region nearest the anchor point.

After a mouse-based area adjust swipe technique is used, place the active cursor as follows:

Support the area click technique only when a common selection in the scope consists of a set of spatially adjacent elements.

Support the area click technique only when discontiguous selections are allowed.

Support the keyboard-based area click technique in normal mode only when a text cursor is used for all navigation between the two corners of the area. The result of attempted use in other cases is undefined.

Define the current selection region to consist of the specified area as follows:

After a mouse-based area click technique is used:

After a mouse-based area click technique, place the active cursor as follows:

When using the area click technique in select mode:

If currently in select mode, clicking Ctrl SELECT istead of SELECT causes the area click technique to act as if toggle mode were in use.

When using the area click technique in toggle mode:

After a keyboard-based area click technique is used:

When using the keyboard-based area click technique in normal mode:

When using the keyboard-based area click technique in add mode:

Support the area swipe technique only when a common selection in the scope consists of a set of spatially adjacent elements.

Support the area swipe technique only when discontiguous selections are allowed.

Define the current selection region to consist of the specified area as follows:

After a mouse-based area swipe technique is used:

After a mouse-based area swipe technique, place the active cursor as follows:

When using the area swipe technique in select mode:

If currently in select mode, pressing Ctrl SELECT instead of SELECT causes the area swipe technique to act as if toggle mode were in use.

When using the area swipe technique in toggle mode:

After a keyboard-based area swipe technique is used:

When using the keyboard-based area swipe technique in normal mode:

When using the keyboard-based range swipe technique in add mode:

Support the mouse-based browse technique only in select mode, and only when at most one element in a scope can be selected.

Support the mouse-based browse technique only in normal mode, and only when an element cursor is being used.

When using the browse technique in select mode, releasing the SELECT button on a selectable element does the following:

Using a navigation key to move the active cursor within a selection scope in normal mode that results in an element cursor being placed on a selectable element does the following:

Using a navigation key to move the active cursor within a selection scope in normal mode that results in an element cursor being placed on a selectable element identifies a point as an anchor point for later use in adjustment of the selection. That point is one of the following:

Do not provide a Cancel choice within an in-progress message. Provide a Close or Stop choice instead.

If the user invokes the cancel action while a requested task is in progress and is waiting for some input, stop the task and, if possible, undo or do not apply any changes.

If the user invokes the cancel action while a requested task is in progress but is not waiting for some input, stop the task and confirm the cancellation with a warning message, unless the operating environment specifies that confirmation is not necessary.

If the user invokes the cancel action while some multistep dialog is in progress, terminate the dialog, and do not continue the task that initiated the dialog. If possible, undo any changes to the application state that may have been made during the dialog.

If the user invokes the cancel action while some modal interaction is in progress, stop the current interaction, exit from the mode, return to the normal mode of operation specified by the operating environment, and do not apply any changes.

Make Cancel the shortcut key for the Cancel choice.

Use a cascading choice to display a cascaded control.

When a user activates a cascading choice, display its associated cascaded control, even when all choices and controls in the cascaded control are unavailable.

Do not display unavailable emphasis on cascading choices.

If a cascading choice is used to display a spring-loaded control, pressing (but not clicking) the SELECT button on the choice activates it and displays the control if it is not already displayed.

If the SELECT or MENU button is pressed, and the pointer is over a cascading choice whose associated cascaded control is not displayed (for example, because the mouse button was pressed elsewhere and moved to the cascading choice), then releasing the mouse button has no effect.

Releasing the SELECT button over a cascading choice whose associated cascaded control is currently displayed leaves the cascaded control displayed if it was not displayed when the SELECT button was pressed.

Releasing the MENU button over a cascading choice whose associated cascaded menu is currently displayed leaves the cascaded control displayed if it was not displayed when MENU was pressed.

Clicking the SELECT button on a cascading choice activates it if its associated cascaded control is not currently displayed.

If activating a cascading choice displays a menu, then clicking the MENU button on the choice activates it if the menu is not currently displayed.

Clicking the SELECT button on a cascading choice removes the associated cascaded control if it is currently displayed.

If a menu is associated with a cascading choice, then clicking the MENU button on the choice removes the associated cascaded menu if it is currently displayed.

Removing a control removes all of its cascaded descendants.

Provide a Change View choice in the View menu if your application allows a user to switch among three or more views.

Make Change View a cascading choice; its cascaded menu should list the available views.

Indicate the current view active in the window by displaying that view's choice in the cascaded menu with unavailable emphasis and, optionally, by including a check graphic next to it.

Do not open a new window as a result of activating Change View; instead, display the new view of the element in the current window.

Do not change the underlying data being viewed when the user changes the view.

Use a check box to display an individual value choice that can be set to on or off.

Use a group of check boxes for value choices that are not mutually exclusive and can each be set to on or off.

When a check box is initially displayed in a set or unset state, toggle only between those two values.

When a check box is displayed in an indeterminate state, toggle from indeterminate to set to unset.

When a check box represents a property shared by more than one selected element:

When a check box represents a property shared by more than one selected element, toggling it to a particular state has the following effect:

A check box consists of a check graphic and a label. The check graphic is displayed to the left of the label. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Provide a choice for every action that the user can invoke or for every value that the user can set or unset.

Use the predefined label for each predefined choice, except when Yes, No, Apply, and OK are replaced by more descriptive labels.

Pressing the SELECT button on a choice and then releasing the SELECT button on the same choice activates or toggles it.

When focus is on an element that represents a choice, pressing Select or Space activates or toggles it.

Include the Clear choice in a pop-up menu on an unselected element only if it can be removed without compressing the visible state it occupied.

Include the Clear choice in a pop-up menu on a selected element only if the selected elements can be removed without compressing the visible space it occupied.

If only objects are selected, the Clear choice must be unavailable in the Edit menu; use Clear to Trash on the Selected menu instead. If the selection scope includes only objects, then Clear must not be in the Edit menu at all.

Include a client area when designing primary and secondary windows, dialog boxes, and pop-up menus.

Place the client area directly beneath the window menu. For information on designing applications for vertical languages, see Chapter 11.

Include scroll bars when the client area is too large to be completely displayed in the window.

All selection scopes support transfer to the clipboard.

Support clipboard transfer in any selection scope in which the current selection can be deleted or cut.

If a control supports text entry or any form of data transfer into the control, it supports Paste.

The source of a Copy, Copy Link, Copy Special, or Cut operation are the selected elements of the control for which the operation was invoked.

The target of a Copy, Copy Link, Copy Special, or Cut operation is the clipboard.

Cut is a move operation, Copy is a copy operation, Copy Link is a link operation. Copy Special results in either a copy or link operation, depending on the format chosen in the dialog.

If Paste or Paste Special transfers a data format, it is a copy operation whose source is the clipboard.

If Paste, Paste Special, or Paste Link transfers a link format, it is a link operation whose source is that of the operation that placed the link on the clipboard.

The target of Paste, Paste Link, or Paste Special is the control for which the action was invoked.

Do not make any Paste choices available when no data is in the clipboard or when the data cannot be pasted.

If you provide Paste Special, do not provide Paste Link (the equivalent functionality is available via the Paste Special Dialog).

If you provide Copy Special, do not provide Copy Link (the equivalent functionality is available via the Copy Special Dialog).

Provide the Close choice in the window menu of every window.

When a user activates the Close choice for the last primary window displayed for an application, remove all dependent secondary windows and exit from the application.

When a user activates the Close choice for a window, remove the window and any dependent secondary windows.

Use a Close push button to close an in-progress message window without affecting the task in progress. Do not terminate the task when a user presses the Close push button in an in-progress message window.

If information in a primary window could be lost when the user activates the Close choice, display a warning message.

Do not allow the list box in a combination box to take focus.

Order the items in the list box in some application-defined way that is meaningful to the user, such as alphabetically, numerically, chronologically, or other such order.

Use either a single or a browse selection model in the list box.

Use the browse selection model in the list box if a text-entry field is used and the list box cannot take focus.

Use the browse selection model in the list box if prefix completion is in use.

Move input focus to the text field if the user presses the SELECT button on an item in the list box and the list box cannot take focus. The item indicated is selected as usual, however.

If the user presses Down Arrow when focus is in the text field and the list box is not displayed, do one of the following:

If the user presses keys used for vertical navigation or paging when focus is in the text field and the list is not displayed, do one of the following:

If the user presses a key used for vertical navigation or paging when focus is in the text field and the list box is displayed, navigate in the list as indicated, select the cursored list item, and display it in the text field.

A combination text-list control whose list box cannot take focus is a tab group.

When focus is in a text-list control whose list box is temporarily displayed and keyboard navigation (for example, tab group or window navigation) is used to move the focus elsewhere, the list box is removed if currently displayed.

When a text-entry field in a combination text-list control has focus, input of printing characters enters them into the text field, with or without prefix navigation.

When a list item is selected, other than by prefix navigation, place the text of the newly selected list item in the text field.

When a newly selected list item is placed in the text field and is selected in the text field, place the cursor at the end of the text field.

Provide vertical scroll bars if some of the items in the list box are not displayed when the list box is displayed.

Make the text field at least as wide as the list box would be if it were displayed.

If the list box is not always displayed, include a list cascade element from which the list box can be displayed.

If you include a command area, provide a text-entry field or a command box or a group of push buttons or both for common actions.

Do not scroll the command area when the viewing areas of the window are scrolled.

Either display the list box permanently or do not display it at all.

When the user invokes the default action of the command box, issue the command in the text field of the command box.

If the command is issued successfully, add the command to the end of the list box.

If the last command in the list box is selected, and a successfully issued command adds the new command to the end of the list, select the new command.

If the command failed, issue a warning signal but do not add the command to the end of the list box, and leave the command unchanged in the text field.

Pressing the SELECT button activates a push button.

When a push button has focus, pressing Select or Spacebar activates it.

When an activatable menu entry has the focus, pressing Select, Spacebar, Enter, or Return activates the entry.

When the SELECT button is pressed over a push button, change the appearance of the push button to indicate that releasing the SELECT button will activate the push button. If, while the SELECT button is pressed, the pointer is moved outside of the push button, restore the visual state is. If, while the SELECT button is still pressed, move the pointer back inside of the push button and change the visual state again to indicate the pending activation. If the SELECT button is pressed and released within a push button, activate the button, regardless of whether the pointer has moved out of the push button while it was pressed.

If a selectable element of a collection is activatable, clicking the SELECT button, pressing Select, or pressing Spacebar (except in text) selects it. Double-clicking the SELECT button selects and activates it.

The time allowed to detect a double-click (**doubleClickTime: 500) should be no less than 500 milliseconds.

If your application uses accelerators (shortcut keys), the component with the accelerator should display the accelerator key or key combination following the label of the component.

If a button with an accelerator is within a primary or secondary window, or within a pull-down menu from its menu bar, make it activatable whenever the input focus is in the window or the menu-bar system. If a button with an accelerator is within a pop-up menu, make it activatable whenever the focus is in the pop-up menu or the component with the pop-up menu.

An accelerator must be activatable from the window or component associated with the accelerator.

If your application uses mnemonics, the label for the component with the mnemonic should contain the character that is its mnemonic. If the label does not naturally contain the character, place the mnemonic in parentheses following the label.

Mnemonic characters must be chosen for ease-of-location within the text of a label. Wherever possible, use the first character of the label. If that is not possible, use the last character of the label or, if there is more than one word, the first character of the second word. After that, go through the label from the second character on until a unique mnemonic is found.

Make all mnemonics case insensitive for activation.

When the location cursor is within a menu or a menu bar, pressing the mnemonic key of a component within that menu or menu bar moves the location cursor to the component and activates it. If a mnemonic is used for an option button or for a cascading button in a menu bar, pressing Alt and the mnemonic anywhere in the window or its menus moves the cursor to the component with that mnemonic and activates it.

When the user activates a tear-off choice, tear off the menu that contains the choice.

When a menu with a tear-off choice is posted, pressing the TRANSFER button in the tear-off choice starts a tear-off action. As long as the TRANSFER button is held, a representation of the menu should follow the movement of the pointer. Releasing the TRANSFER button ends the tear-off action by unposting the menu system, creating a new window at the current pointer location that contains the contents of the menu, and giving focus to the new window in explicit pointer mode.

When the user presses Help on a component. invoke any context-sensitive help for the component or its nearest ancestor with context-sensitive help available.

Provide context-sensitive help at all locations.

Never use a “Help not available” message.

If your application uses default push buttons in a window, highlight the current default push button. When the focus is on a push button, make its action the default action and highlight the push button. If the default action in a window varies, some push button must always have default highlighting, except when there is no current default action.

When focus is in a window with a default action and an activatable menu does not have the focus, pressing Enter or Ctrl Return invokes the default action. If focus is in a component other than multiline text or an activated menu, Return also invokes the default action. These actions should have no other effect on the component with the focus, unless the default action has some effect on that component.

Except in the middle of a button motion operation, make pressing Cancel anywhere in a dialog box equivalent to activating the Cancel push button in the dialog box.

If your application supports expert activation, expert actions should exist only as shortcuts to application features that are available through another mechanism.

Expert activation, using mouse double-clicking on buttons, provides a convenient way for experienced users to perform certain tasks quickly. However, new users and keyboard-only users need to be able to perform the same tasks.

When the focus is on a button used for expert activation, no default action should be available, unless the default and expert actions are the same.

If a component with an expert action is selectable, activating the expert action first selects the component and then performs the expert action.

If your application supports activation preview when the user presses the SELECT button, remove the previewing information when the user releases the SELECT button. Activation preview presents the user with additional information that describes the effect of activating a button. This information cannot interfere with the normal operation of the application.

Pressing the Cancel key stops current interaction in the following contexts:

Check buttons should only select settings that are not mutually exclusive. A check button graphically indicates its state with the presence or absence of a check mark.

When the user presses the SELECT button in a check button, display the check button with armed emphasis. If the check button was previously unset, show it in the set state. If the check button was previously set, show in the unset state.

Pressing the SELECT button arms a check button; releasing the SELECT button shows the result of activating it.

When the user releases the SELECT button in the same check button in which the press occurred:

In all cases, disarm the check button and, if the check button is in a menu, unpost the menu. When the user releases the SELECT button, activate the check button.

When the user presses Enter or Return in a check button, if the check button is in a window with a default action, activate the default action. If the check button is in a menu:

When the user presses Select or Spacebar in a check button, if the check button was previously unset, set it. If the check button was previously set, unset it. In both cases, disarm the check button and, if the check button is in a menu, unpost the menu.

In a list that can be scrolled, such as a scrollable list box, do not allow the cursor to wrap.

Provide vertical scroll bars when some of the data is not visible in the combo box.

If your application uses a command box, include a text component with a command-line prompt for text input and a list component for a command history area. Use either the single selection or browse selection model.

When an element of a command box list is selected, place its contents in the text area.

Make the list navigation actions Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Ctrl Begin, and Ctrl End available from the text component so the user can move the cursored element within the list and thus change the contents of the text.

The default action of the command box should pass the command in the text area to the application for execution and add the command to the end of the list.

If your application uses a file selection dialog box, it should contain the following components:

If the Open button is activated while the appropriate file is selected in the contents list, the file should be utilized by the application and the file selection box dismissed.

When the file selection dialog box is used to choose an existing directory, there must also be an additional button, labeled Update, that is enabled whenever a directory is selected in the contents list and that opens the directory. Make this Update button the default action.

Make the normal text navigation and editing functions available in the text components for moving the cursor within each text component and changing the contents of the text. These actions provide a convenient way to choose a directory or file name from the corresponding list while focus remains in the text component.

When the user double-clicks the SELECT button on an item in the contents list, select that item and activate the default action. In all cases, double-clicking the SELECT button on a directory in the contents list should open that directory and display its contents in the contents list (the default action is Open).

When the file selection box is used to choose an existing file and the user double-clicks the SELECT button on an appropriate file in the contents list, choose that file and dismiss the file selection box (the default action is Open).

When the file selection box is used to choose an existing directory or to specify a new directory or file, the files list should not appear.

Make the normal text navigation and editing functions available in the text components for moving the cursor within each text component and for changing the contents of the text.

Make use of a selection when one of the following occurs:

Make the file selection box display the contents of a directory in the contents list when the file selection box is initialized, when the user presses Enter or Return in the directory text component, and when the user opens a directory in the contents list. Update the contents list each time the contents of the directory changes.

If the user has opened the application with a file name argument, the Open dialog box should default to the directory in which that file resides.

Within a list component, pressing Up Arrow moves the location cursor to the previous item in the list, and pressing Down Arrow moves the location cursor to the next item in the list. In a scrollable list, pressing Left Arrow scrolls the list one character to the left, and pressing Right Arrow scrolls the list one character to the right.

Within a list component, pressing Ctrl Begin moves the location cursor to the first item in the list, and pressing Ctrl End moves the location cursor to the last item in the list. In a scrollable list, pressing Begin moves the horizontal scroll region so that the leftmost edge of the list is visible, and pressing End moves the horizontal scroll region so that the rightmost edge of the list is visible.

Within a scrollable list, pressing Page Up moves the location cursor to the item one page up in the list, and pressing Page Down moves the location cursor to the item one page down in the list. In a scrollable list, pressing Page Left (or Ctrl Page Up) scrolls the list one page to the left, and pressing Page Right (or Ctrl Page Down) scrolls the list one page to the right.

Within a list component, clicking the SELECT button selects the item that was double-clicked and then initiates any default action for the window.

If your application uses option buttons, make the label for the button the last selection made from the option button.

When the user presses the SELECT button or the MENU button on an option button, post the associated option menu.

When the user releases the SELECT button or the MENU button within the same option button that the press occurred in, post the associated option menu if it was not posted at the time of the press. When the user releases the SELECT button or the MENU button outside of the option button, unpost the associated option menu.

When the user presses Select or Spacebar in an option button, post the associated option menu.

If your application uses paned windows, they should be composed of any number of groups of components, called panes, each separated by a sash and a separator. Group the panes, sashes, and separators linearly, either horizontally or vertically. A sash is the handle on a separator between two panes that is used to adjust the position of the separator.

The Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Right Arrow, and Left Arrow directional keys navigate among components in a panel.

A panel group organizes a collection of basic controls in a horizontal, vertical, or two-dimensional layout. The directional keys are used to navigate among the controls.

When the user presses the SELECT button in a push button, arm the push button. When the user releases the SELECT button in the same push button where the press occurred, disarm and activate the push button. When the user releases the SELECT button outside the push button, disarm but do not deactivate the push button.

When the user presses Enter or Return in a push button that is in a window with a default action, activate the push button. When the user presses Enter or Return in a push button in a menu, activate the push button and unpost the menu.

When the user presses Select or Spacebar in a push button, activate the push button is activated. If the push button is in a menu, unpost the menu.

If your application uses radio buttons, graphically indicate each button's state.

When the user presses the SELECT button in a radio button, the radio button is armed. If the radio button was previously unset, show it in the set state.

When the user releases the SELECT button in the same radio button where the press occurred, and the radio button was previously unset, set it and unset any other radio button in the same panel that was previously set. Disarm the radio button and, if the radio button is in a menu, unpost the menu.

When the user presses Enter or Return in a radio button, if the radio button is in a window with a default action, activate the default action. If the radio button is in a menu:

When the user presses Select or Spacebar in a radio button, if the radio button was previously unset, set it and unset any other radio button in the same panel that was previously set. Disarm the radio button and, if the radio button is in a menu, unpost the menu.

Within a paned window, a sash adjusts the position of a separator, which adjusts the sizes of the panes next to it. As a sash is moved, make the pane in the direction of the sash movement get smaller and the opposite pane get larger by an equal amount.

Within a sash, pressing the SELECT button or the TRANSFER button and moving the pointer causes the sash to track the movement of the pointer. In a vertically oriented paned window, the sash tracks the vertical position of the pointer. In a horizontally oriented paned window, the pane tracks the horizontal position of the pointer.

Pressing Up Arrow or Down Arrow (for a sash that can move vertically) and Left Arrow or Right Arrow (for a sash that can move horizontally) moves the sash one increment in the specified direction.

Pressing Ctrl Up Arrow or Ctrl Down Arrow (for a sash that can move vertically) and Ctrl Left Arrow or Ctrl Right Arrow (for a sash that can move horizontally) moves the sash one large increment in the specified direction.

If a scale has arrow buttons, pressing the SELECT button on an arrow button moves the slider one increment in the direction of the side of the slider on which the button was pressed and autorepeats until the button is released.

In a scale trough, if the scale has tick marks, pressing the SELECT button moves the slider one major tick mark in the direction of the side of the slider on which the trough was pressed and autorepeats until the button is released. If the scale does not have tick marks, pressing the SELECT button in the trough moves the slider one large increment in the direction of the side of the slider on which the trough was pressed and autorepeats until the button is released.

Within a scale slider, pressing the SELECT button and moving the pointer causes the slider to track the position of the pointer. In a vertical scale, the slider tracks the vertical position of the pointer. In a horizontal scale, the slider tracks the horizontal position of the pointer.

Within a scale slider or trough, pressing the TRANSFER button and moving the pointer positions the slider to the point of the button press and then causes the slider to track the position of the pointer. In a vertical scale, the slider tracks the vertical position of the pointer. In a horizontal scale, the slider tracks the horizontal position of the pointer.

If a mouse-based sliding action is in progress, pressing Cancel cancels the sliding action and returns the slider to its position prior to the start of the sliding operation.

In a vertical scale, pressing Up Arrow or Down Arrow moves the slider one increment in the specified direction. In a horizontal scale, pressing Right Arrow or Left Arrow moves the slider one increment in the specified direction.

In a vertical scale, pressing Ctrl Up Arrow or Ctrl Down Arrow moves the slider one large increment in the specified direction. In a horizontal scale, pressing Ctrl Left Arrow or Ctrl Right Arrow moves the slider one large increment in the specified direction.

Pressing Begin or Ctrl Begin moves the slider to its minimum value. Pressing End or Ctrl End moves the slider to its maximum value.

Within a scroll bar, pressing the SELECT button in an arrow button moves the slider one increment in the direction of the side of the slider on which the button was pressed and autorepeats until the button is released.

In the trough of a scroll bar, pressing the SELECT button moves the slider one page in the direction of the side of the slider on which the trough was pressed and autorepeats until the button is released.

Within a scroll bar slider, pressing the SELECT button and moving the pointer causes the slider to track the position of the pointer. In a vertical scroll bar, the slider tracks the vertical position of the pointer. In a horizontal scroll bar, the slider tracks the horizontal position of the pointer.

Within a scroll bar slider or trough, pressing the TRANSFER button and moving the pointer positions the slider to the point of the button press and then causes the slider to track the position of the pointer. In a vertical scroll bar, the slider tracks the vertical position of the pointer. In a horizontal scroll bar, the slider tracks the horizontal position of the pointer.

If a mouse-based scrolling action is in progress, pressing the Cancel key cancels the scrolling action and returns the slider to its position prior to the start of the scrolling operation.

In a vertical scroll bar, pressing Up Arrow or Down Arrow moves the slider one increment in the specified direction. In a horizontal scroll bar, pressing Left Arrow or Right Arrow moves the slider one increment in the specified direction.

In a vertical scroll bar, pressing Ctrl Up Arrow or Ctrl Down Arrow moves the slider one large increment in the specified direction. Pressing Ctrl Left Arrow or Ctrl Right Arrow moves the slider one large increment in the specified direction.

Pressing Page Up or Page Down moves the slider in a vertical scroll bar one page in the specified direction. Pressing Page Left (or Ctrl Page Up) or Page Right (or Ctrl Page Down) moves the slider in a horizontal scroll bar one page in the specified direction.

Pressing Begin or Ctrl Begin moves the slider to the minimum value. Pressing End or Ctrl End moves the slider to the maximum value.

If your application uses a selection box, include at least a text component for the selected alternative and a list component above the text component for presenting alternatives. Use either the single selection or browse selection model. Selecting an element from the list should place the selected element in the text component.

Make the list navigation actions Up Arrow, Down Arrow Ctrl Begin, and Ctrl End available from the text component so the user can move the cursored element within the list and thus change the contents of the text.

Present the items as a ring of items that wrap. For example, if a user is at the largest number and presses the up arrow, display the smallest number and vice versa so that the user can spin through all the items by pressing the same arrow.

Move through the items in a spin box as shown in Table 1-3.

In a multiline text component, pressing Up Arrow moves the location cursor up one line and pressing Down Arrow moves the location cursor down one line. In a single-line text component, pressing Up Arrow navigates upward to the previous component and pressing Down Arrow navigates downward to the next component, if the text component is designed to act like a basic control.

Pressing Left Arrow moves the location cursor left one character and pressing Right Arrow moves the location cursor right one character.

In a text component generally used to hold multiple words, pressing Ctrl Right Arrow moves the location cursor to the right by a word and pressing Ctrl Left Arrow moves the location cursor to the left by a word.

In a text component generally used to hold multiple words, pressing Begin moves the location cursor to the beginning of the line and pressing End moves the location cursor to the end of the line.

In a multiline text component, pressing Ctrl Begin moves the location cursor to the beginning of the file and pressing Ctrl End moves the location cursor to the end of the file.

Pressing Spacebar or Shift Spacebar inserts a space in a text component. Modifying these keys with Ctrl invokes the normal selection function.

Pressing Return in a multiline text component inserts a carriage return. Pressing Enter or Ctrl Return invokes the default action.

In a multiline text component, Tab is used for tabbing. In a single-line text component, Tab is used either for tabbing or to move to the next field.

If a text component supports replace mode, insert toggles between insert mode and replace mode.

By default, the component should start in insert mode, where the location cursor is between two characters. In insert mode, typing a character inserts the character at the position of the location cursor.

In replace mode, place the location cursor on a character. Typing a character replaces the current character with the newly entered character and moves the location cursor to the next character, selecting it.

Double-clicking the SELECT button selects text a word at a time.

A gauge is a display-only device and should have no user interactions. The appearance of a gauge is similar to a scale, but the gauge lacks a scale slider.

Based on a task analysis, allow a container to either support a single, browse, multiple, or extended selection model.

If you design a container so that the container as a whole can take focus, then the following should occur:

When a container as a whole can take focus, the following should occur:

When the container as a whole has focus, a transfer operation whose destination depends upon the focus (for example, Paste) transfers into the object represented by the container as a whole. If the elements being transferred are not objects, the application encapsulates them as objects where this is possible.

Design a container so that the container as a whole can take focus if support for transferring objects to the container is required, unless the user can switch to a spatial view by using a graphics cursor.

In a spatial view, either use an element cursor or a graphics cursor.

In a linear view, use an element cursor.

In a linear view, when the active cursor is on an object, pressing Down Arrow (except on the last object) moves it to the object in the row below.

In a linear view, when the active cursor is on an object, pressing Up Arrow (except on the first object) moves it to the object in the row above.

In a linear view that is neither detailed nor hierarchical, pressing Right Arrow has the same effect as Down Arrow, and Left Arrow has the same effect as Up Arrow. For bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

In a linear view, to represent an object use a small icon with the text label adjacent to the image if both are present.

In a linear view, do not allow the icon's text label to be cursored separately from the icon image. If you want to allow the user to change the label text, support direct editing techniques, property-editing dialogs, or both.

In a linear view, only the text label or the image of an icon needs to be shown. However, whichever one is present uniquely identifies the object.

Support the range technique when multiple elements can be selected in a container that uses a linear view.

In a linear detailed view, either all detail elements take focus or they all do not take focus. If they do not take focus, and you want to allow the user to change the details, support direct editing techniques, property-editing dialogs, or both. Detail elements are not selectable, even when they can take focus.

When multiple elements in a row of a nonhierarchical linear view can be cursored (because detail elements can take focus in addition to the icon in each row), follow the standard rules for directional navigation; that is, Left Arrow and Right Arrow traverse through rows, and Up Arrow and Down Arrow traverse through columns, with the objects treated as a single column.

In normal mode, if keyboard navigation is used to move focus to a detail element, deselect all objects in the container.

If the user clicks Ctrl SELECT on a detail element in the container that can take focus, move the focus to that element without affecting the selection state of the objects within the container or having any other effect.

If the user clicks SELECT on a detail element in the container that can take focus, move the focus to that element. If select mode is used within the container, all objects are deselected as well.

In a linear hierarchical view, each object that contains subobjects should be displayed with a display control button to its left. The button should contain a value choice that may be toggled between an ‘expanded ’ and a ‘contracted’ state and should not take focus.

When an object's display control button is in the contracted state, the subobjects of the object should not be shown; in the contracted state, they should be shown. All of an object's subobjects should be laid out vertically immediately below the object, but indented to the right (only the object column — not the detail columns). If any subobject itself contains subobjects, it should also be shown with a display control button that indicates whether its subobjects should be displayed. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

When focus is on an object with a display control button and the user presses Ctrl Left Arrow, set the button to its expanded state. If the user presses Ctrl Right Arrow, set the button to its contracted state. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

If the user clicks the SELECT button on a display control button, toggle its state and move focus to its corresponding object icon.

Toggling a display control button (either with a standard keyboard or mouse) has the following effect:

When the user presses F1 or Help, display context-sensitive help related to the element that has focus.

When the user is in help mode (as a result of pressing Shift F1, Shift Help, or selecting the On Item entry in the Help menu), display context-sensitive help on the element on which the user clicks the SELECT button, if it is in the same window in which help mode was initiated.

If help is not available for the element for which it was requested, provide help for the control that contains the element, or for some higher-level grouping of controls, or for the window as a whole.

Allow control navigation to move the active cursor among controls in a tab group.

When unaugmented horizontal navigation is used to navigate among controls in a tab group, the Right Arrow and Left Arrow keys work as follows:

When augmented horizontal navigation is used to navigate among controls in a tab group, pressing Ctrl Left Arrow and Ctrl Right Arrow move the active cursor through all the controls that can take focus in a tab group, following the same set of rules as for unaugmented horizontal navigation described previously. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Support unaugmented horizontal navigation for control navigation within a tab group, unless controls within the tab group use horizontal navigation internally.

If controls within the tab group use unaugmented horizontal navigation internally, support augmented horizontal navigation for control navigation, unless controls within the tab group also use augmented horizontal navigation internally.

When unaugmented vertical navigation is used to navigate among controls in a tab group, the Down Arrow and Up Arrow keys work as follows:

When augmented vertical navigation is used to navigate among controls in a tab group, pressing Ctrl Down Arrow and Ctrl Up Arrow move the active cursor through all the controls that can take focus in a tab group, following the same set of rules as for unaugmented vertical navigation described previously.

Support unaugmented vertical navigation for control navigation within a tab group, unless controls within the tab group use vertical navigation internally.

If controls within the tab group use unaugmented vertical navigation internally, support augmented vertical navigation for control navigation, unless controls within the tab group also use augmented vertical navigation internally.

If a tab group contains more than one control that can take focus, then either horizontal or vertical navigation should be supported for control navigation within the tab group.

The initial control of a tab group (the control that gets focus when the user presses Tab or Ctrl Tab to navigate to the tab group) should be either the top-left control that can take focus or the control with which the user is most likely to want to interact.

In a tab group, if you allow Tab to navigate internally among all of its controls, the final control in the tab group should be the final control visited (without repeating) when starting at the initial control.

If you do not allow Tab to navigate internally among all the controls in the tab group with wrapping, then allow Shift Tab or Ctrl Shift Tab to place focus on the initial control of the tab group.

In a tab group, if you allow Tab to navigate internally among all the controls in the tab group, but do not allow warping from the final to the initial control, then allow Shift Tab or Ctrl Shift Tab to place focus on the final control of the tab group.

If a tab group of push buttons contains the push button that has default emphasis when focus initially enters a window, then make that push button the initial control of its tab group.

When focus is within a tab group of push buttons, support Tab in one of the following ways:

Continue to allow the directional keys to navigate within the tab group as well.

When focus is within a tab group of push buttons, support Shift Tab in one of the following ways:

When appropriate, the File Selection dialog should allow the user to differentiate between copying a file or object versus copying or creating a link or reference to it.

When using an explicit focus policy, use an element cursor on a control to indicate focus emphasis, unless a cursor is visible on some element within the control.

Use a text cursor at the appropriate point when a control is in a state where characters typed by the user may be inserted in the control or in which characters displayed within the control may be selected.

Use a graphics cursor in a control when keyboard users need to be able to place elements at specific (x,y) positions or to select elements within an arbitrary rectangle.

Use an element cursor on a control to indicate focus emphasis if a cursor is displayed within that control but is not visible because it is clipped or scrolled out of view.

A control that uses a text or graphics cursor must keep track of the cursor position even when the control does not have focus.

When the user clicks the SELECT button at a legitimate cursor position within a control that uses keyboard navigation to move the cursor, move the cursor to the location at which SELECT was clicked.

When the user presses Ctrl SELECT at a legitimate cursor position within a control that uses keyboard navigation to move the cursor, move the cursor to the location at which SELECT was pressed, but do not perform any other action, unless pressing Ctrl SELECT already has a predefined meaning in that control.

Text and graphics cursors should not track the pointer; they should only move via keyboard navigation or when a mouse button is pressed, even when in a window that uses an implicit focus policy.

An element cursor used within a control (other than a spring-sensitive control) should not track the pointer when in a window that uses an explicit focus policy.

When using keyboard navigation, do not skip over an element solely because it is obscured by another window or by an icon in the workspace.

If a control keeps track of a cursor position within the control even when the control does not have focus, do one of the following:

If a control hides a cursor but keeps track of its position within the control when the control does not have focus, then when the control gains focus, show the cursor at the position it was in (relative to the underlying data) when the control last had focus, unless the application has changed the data or cursor position in the meantime.

Within a selection scope that supports add mode and normal mode, change the appearance of the cursor, depending upon the mode. In particular, when an element cursor is used, draw a solid box around the element in normal mode and a dashed box around the element in add mode.

Make sure that a text or graphics cursor used in a control is clearly distinguishable from the shape of the pointer when it is in that control.

To make a cursor more visible when the control containing it has focus, use one of the following methods:

When insert mode is being used, display a text cursor as a vertical bar or I-beam at the cursor position.

The size of the I-beam cursor should be proportional to the current font.

When replace mode is being used, use a block or underline to make the text cursor appear to be displayed on a character, though it actually is positioned immediately before that character.

Provide a Cut choice for all elements and data.

Provide a Copy choice for all elements for which the user can create a duplicate, and for data that the user can duplicate.

Provide a Paste choice for all objects or elements that the user can place or insert into other objects or elements.

When the user chooses Cut, remove the objects or data to which the choice applies from their current location and place them on the clipboard.

Display the Cut choice in a pull-down menu with unavailable emphasis when the element to which the Cut choice applies cannot be cut.

If you provide the Cut choice on an element, place Cut in the element's pop-up menu when it can be cut.

Assign CtrlX or Shift Delete as the shortcut key combination for a Cut choice.

When the user chooses Copy, copy the objects or data to which the choice applies from their current location to the clipboard.

Display the Copy choice on a pull-down menu with unavailable emphasis when the element to which the Copy choice applies cannot be copied to the clipboard.

If you provide the Copy choice for an element, place Copy in the element's pop-up menu when it can be copied.

When the user copies an element to the clipboard, do not change the state of the source element. For example, do not change the selection state of the element as a result of copying it.

When the user copies an element to the clipboard, do not change the state of the copied object on the clipboard.

Assign CtrlC or Ctrl Insert as the shortcut key combination for a Cut choice.

When the user chooses Paste, insert the objects or data to which the choice applies from the clipboard to the current cursor location.

Display the Paste choice on a pull-down menu with unavailable emphasis when no data is in the clipboard or when the clipboard data cannot be pasted at the cursor's position.

If you provide a Paste menu item for an element, place Paste in the element's pop-up menu when the element or data currently in the buffer can be passed into the element at the cursor's location.

Assign CtrlV or Shift Insert as the shortcut key combination for a Paste choice.

Allow any selectable element to be transferred.

A copy operation should transfer the source elements to the target without affecting the original source element in any way.

A move operation should transfer the source elements to the target and then remove them from the source.

A link transfer operation should do one of the following:

The insertion point for an operation that transfers data into a selection scope is determined as follows:

If the insertion position is not on an object, then do one of the following:

If the insertion point is on a selection, but not on an object, a transfer operation into the scope should have one of the following effects:

If the insertion point is neither on a selection nor on an object, a transfer operation should insert the transferred data or link at the insertion point.

If the elements are laid out in a linear manner, insert elements immediately prior to the insertion point.

If the target insertion point is within the region of the source elements, do not perform the transfer; instead, issue a warning signal.

If an operation that transfers data into a scope is selected from a menu popped up (via the MENU button) on neither an object nor a selection, issue a warning message if the insertion point is on an object.

When an object is moved or copied, transfer the contents of the object along with the object itself.

When a move operation is performed, remove the source elements only if the data transfer has completed successfully. If the data transfer operation has been canceled or it has failed, do not remove the source elements.

Do not select data transferred to a target as a result of a link or copy operation.

If the source elements used in a data transfer operation are selected, do not deselect them as a result of the operation.

Do not change the source elements used as the source of a copy or link operation.

When transferred data is inserted into a selection scope (not into objects within the scope) by using normal mode at a position disjoint from a selection, deselect the selected elements.

Inserting or pasting elements at a location disjoint from the selection should have no effect on the selection in add mode.

If a transfer operation uses an insertion point based on the position of the pointer (rather than the cursor), place the cursor at the pointer position used.

During a transfer operation, allow the data transferred to change its appearance or representation to suit the requirements of the target.

Allow the user to override the default operation of a TRANSFER button-based data transfer operation by using a modifier key. Table 1-4 lists these operations and overrides.

To support new users and keyboard-only users, provide default actions as shortcuts only for application features that are available by some other method.

When a window has focus, show default emphasis on the push button in the window, if any, that performs the current default action for that window.

Except when focus is on a tool or object or in a menu, if the default action of a window varies, provide a push button that corresponds to each default action.

When the focus is on a push button, make its action the default action.

When the focus is on a choice in a menu other than a tear-off menu, make the default action activate or toggle that choice.

When focus is on an object icon, the default action should present data of the corresponding object; for a window icon display the corresponding window.

When the user presses keypadEnter, Ctrl Enter, or Enter (except in text), invoke the default action. Except possibly when on an element that is both activatable and selectable, it should have no other effect.

When the user double-clicks the SELECT button and focus is on a value choice that is part of a mutually exclusive group of value choices (for example, on a radio button, a tool, or in a value set), invoke the default action.

If only objects are selected, the Delete choice should not be available in the Edit menu. Provide Delete to Trash in the Selected menu instead. If the selection scope includes only objects, then do not provide Delete in the Edit menu.

In an editable selection scope, any operation that deletes a region (not containing objects) has the following effect if something is currently selected in the scope:

In an editable selection scope, pressing Delete and Backspace have the following effects if the cursor is within text and the selection is not empty and contains no objects:

When nothing is selected in an editable selection scope, and there is a character following the text cursor, pressing Delete deletes it.

When nothing is selected in an editable selection scope, and there is a character preceding the text cursor, pressing Backspace deletes it.

Use a dialog choice to display a secondary window that contains a dialog from which the user can specify parameters and invoke the action corresponding to the choice or cancel the action.

Use ellipses (...) after the textual label of a dialog choice.

Use ellipses after a choice in a menu or on a push button that causes a secondary window to be displayed, if the secondary window gathers additional information required to complete the requested task. For example, provide a Print... choice to allow the user to specify print characteristics before starting the print operation.

Do not use ellipses if a choice results in immediate action. In some cases, the action may be to display a secondary window that supports interaction with the user. For example, do not use an ellipsis on the Help choice, even though the help information is displayed in a secondary window.

Do not use ellipses simply because a confirmation message is displayed.

Use a dialog to allow the user to specify parameters to an action that is to be performed.

Use a dialog to allow the user to review the parameters to an action before finally approving its invocation.

Provide one or both of the following push-button choices in a dialog:

You can replace the labels of these choices with ones that are descriptive of the action to be performed.

Provide a Cancel choice in a dialog window that closes the dialog without performing the effects of the action.

If direct editing mode is supported for a textual label, enter the mode when the user clicks the SELECT button on the label or when the user double-clicks the SELECT button, if (single) clicking the SELECT button is already used for some other purpose (for example, margin selection).

If direct editing mode is supported for a textual label, provide some means for keyboard users to edit the label as well (for example, by choosing an action from a menu that displays a window in which such labels can be edited via a text-entry field).

Use a persistent selection to select the entire text of the label when entering direct editing mode.

Exit from direct editing mode when the user presses Enter or keypadEnter.

Exit from direct editing mode and undo any changes made to the text being edited when the user presses Cancel.

When the user exits from direct editing mode, deselect the text in the label.

When the user exits from direct editing mode without explicitly moving focus elsewhere, and the focus remains in the window or is moved back to it, place the active cursor as follows:

During direct editing, mouse buttons have their usual effect, and all operations on other controls except those that transfer data to the label cause direct editing mode to exit.

During direct editing, keyboard-based window navigation should exit from direct editing mode and move focus to the window indicated.

During direct editing, control navigation should not be supported.

During direct editing, tab-group navigation should exit from direct editing mode and allow navigation elsewhere, but only in the following cases:

Initiate a direct manipulation operation when the user presses a pointer button on an element.

Do not change the active window while a direct manipulation operation is in progress.

While a direct manipulation operation is in progress, if the action to be performed on termination changes as the pointer is moved or as the state of the keyboard changes, provide appropriate feedback to the user so that the user knows what action will be performed.

If a direct manipulation operation requires that buttons be pressed while the operation is in progress, terminate the direct manipulation operation. Alternatively, change its mode when the user releases all pointer buttons and does not press any more buttons or keys within a time period specified by the operating environment.

If a direct manipulation operation does not require that any button be pressed while the operation is in progress, allow the user to terminate the direct manipulation operation. Alternatively, change its mode by pressing shortcut keys or by clicking on some combination of pointer buttons.

When the user presses Cancel or Esc while a direct manipulation operation is in progress, cancel the direct manipulation operation.

Support dragging any object represented as an icon.

Support dropping onto objects represented as icons.

If a control supports any form of data transfer with its contents used as a source, then those contents can be the source of a drag-and-drop operation.

If a control allows any form of data transfer to the control, it can be used as a target for a drag-and-drop operation.

Make the source of a drag-and-drop transfer the element or selection on which the drag was initiated.

Make the target of a drag-and-drop transfer the control on which the drop was performed; if the control holds a selection scope, then it is the insertion point within that scope.

The default operation for a drag-and-drop transfer must be a move, except in the following cases:

The default operation for a drag-and-drop transfer may be overridden by Ctrl and/or Shift modifiers when the TRANSFER button is released.

Initiate a drag when the user presses the TRANSFER button and then moves the mouse on selections and elements that can be dragged.

If the user uses the TRANSFER button to drag an element that has not been selected, drag only that element without affecting any existing selection.

Drag all selected elements in the scope when the user presses the SELECT button and then moves the mouse on a selection.

Initiate a drag when the user clicks Alt TRANSFER on a selection or an element that can be dragged.

Whether the TRANSFER button is integrated with SELECT on MB1 or not, when the user clicks SELECT, optionally augmented with Shift and/or Ctrl, the effect should be the same.

When the user multi-clicks (or multi-presses) the SELECT button, optionally augmented with Shift Ctrl, the effect should be the same whether the TRANSFER button is integrated with SELECT on MB1 or not.

When the user presses MB1 and moves the pointer on a selection, drag all selected elements in the scope.

When the user presses MB1 on an element that can be activated or toggled (other than a tear-off choice), activate or toggle the element; do not allow dragging.

When the user presses MB1 and moves the pointer on an element that cannot be selected (other than a tear-off choice), do not allow dragging.

If the MENU button is bound to a mouse button other than MB1, when the user clicks Alt MB1, optionally augmented with Shift and/or Ctrl, on a selection or an element that can be dragged, initiate a drag.

Whether the TRANSFER button is integrated with SELECT on MB1 or not, support the same effect when the user presses SELECT and moves the pointer, optionally augmented with Shift and/or Ctrl, in the background (or on unselected text) of a scope that supports area or range selection techniques.

When the TRANSFER button is integrated with SELECT on MB1, when the user presses MB1 and moves the pointer, optionally augmented with Shift and/or Ctrl, on an unselected element for dragging, the effect should be equivalent to the user clicking the SELECT button (without modifiers) on the element (using whatever selection model is in force) and then dragging the selection.

When the TRANSFER button is integrated with SELECT on MB1 in a nontextual scope, treat pressing MB1 and moving on an unselected element as a selection technique if the following is true:

Otherwise, allow the user to press MB1 and move the pointer on an unselected element for dragging.

The application that contains the source elements of a drag-and-drop operation may limit drops to windows that it manages. It may also treat elements of its own or other applications as invisible for the purpose of determining the target.

When a drag is completed, a drop should be performed at the pointer location as follows:

In any case, the state of the Ctrl and Shift modifiers at the time of the drops determines the operation to be performed.

When a drag is in progress and the user presses Cancel, cancel the drag.

When the user attempts to drop an element on an element that does not support the operation, cancel the drag or display a message dialog similar to the one that would be used if Help were pressed at that location.

When a user drops a source element onto the same position it currently occupies, the application should not perform an action.

If the source elements of a drag-and-drop move operation are selected, select the elements transferred to the target scope if the source and target scopes are the same.

If the source elements of a drag-and-drop move operation are selected, select the elements transferred to the target scope if the target uses normal mode and allows the number of elements transferred to be selected.

Move focus to the target control in a drag-and-drop operation.

Include Move in the window menu. When used from a window, move the window, and when used from a window icon, move the icon.

In the File and Edit menus, use Move if the selected elements can only be moved; use Drag if other operations are possible as well.

When the user is moving a window, the only visible target should be the workspace. That is, a window can be dropped anywhere, but should always be treated as being dropped on the workplace, not on some other element.

When the user initiates a drag-and-drop operation by selecting Drag or Move from a menu, and the pointer position after choosing the menu entry is outside the bounding box of the element or elements being moved, or pointer warping is not enabled, then do one of the following:

If the drop-down combination box has focus and the list box is displayed, remove the list box if the user presses Cancel or Escape and leave focus in the text-entry field.

Do not allow the list box in a drop-down combination box to take focus.

If the drop-down combination box has focus and the list box is displayed, remove the list box if the user presses Cancel or Escape and leave focus in the text-display field.

Do not allow the list box in a drop-down list to take focus.

In conjunction with the Menu Guidelines reference page, use Table 1-5 to decide which choices to include in the Edit menu and how to organize them.

For operations with multiple shortcut keys, show the one that augments a printing character with Ctrl (for example, Ctrl A for Select All).

Do not display the shortcut keys for Primary Copy or Primary Move in their respective menu entries.

When the user selects the Select Pasted choice, select the element last transferred into the selection scope.

Allow a Reselect choice only when nothing is selected in the current selection scope. When the user chooses Reselect, reselect the previously selected elements within a selection scope.

Provide a Duplicate choice to copy the selected elements in the same selection scope. If the elements are named, selecting Duplicate should automatically generate names for them that do not conflict with the names of other objects in the scope.

Provide an Insert choice to allow the user to specify a file or object to be included at the cursor position. Either the name, reference, or contents can be included. If multiple choices are reasonable, the dialog should allow the user to determine the choice. If different kinds of elements can be inserted, then either provide a cascaded choice or make Insert a menu-bar item.

Remove in-use emphasis from an icon for an object when all windows that contain a view of that object have been closed and all tasks that use that object have completed.

Display selected emphasis on the primary selection, whether or not the control containing it has focus.

Display selected emphasis on a persistent selection when the control containing it has focus.

Display unavailable emphasis on choices or controls that represent operations that cannot be activated in the current context.

If a choice is never available to a particular user, do not display the choice rather than displaying it with unavailable emphasis. For example, if the system administrator assigns read-only access to a user, destructive choices such as Cut or Delete should not be displayed.

Do not include unavailable choices in lists and option menus.

During a drag-and-drop operation to a target element in which a drop is likely to succeed, display target emphasis on the target element when the pointer is on that element.

Display ready emphasis on a control if the action will be activated or toggled when the user completes the current action.

When the pointer is located on an element that represents a choice and the user presses the SELECT button, display ready emphasis to indicate that releasing SELECT activates or toggles the choice. Modify the emphasis as follows if the user moves the pointer:

Remove the ready emphasis from the selected element when the user moves the pointer from the element, whether or not the action that would activate or toggle the choice was completed or when the user cancels the action.

Display default emphasis on the push button whose action corresponds to the current default action.

In explicit mode, display interacted emphasis on the last control within a selection scope that had input focus.

In implicit mode, display interacted emphasis on the last control within a selection scope that received input.

When an explicit focus policy is in use, use focus emphasis to indicate which control has focus.

Provide the Exit choice in the File menu. If you do not provide a File menu, make Exit the last choice in the pull-down menu for the first menu-bar item on the menu bar.

Provide the Exit choice to allow the user to end the current application.

When the user chooses the Exit choice, prompt the user to save any unsaved changes before ending the current application.

If you provide any of the functionality specified for the choices defined for a File menu, provide a File choice on the menu bar.

In conjunction with the Menu Guidelines reference page, use Table 1-6 to decide which of the choices listed to include in the File menu and how to organize them.

When the user chooses Revert, modify the displayed state to revert to the state last saved or, if the state has not been saved, to the initial state.

Allow the user to continue interacting with the application when a file selection dialog is displayed.

The file selection dialog box must be composed of at least the following:

The user must be able to select a new directory to examine by scrolling through the list of subdirectories and selecting the desired directory or by editing the directory mask. Selecting a new directory from the directory list must not change the search pattern. A user must be able to select a new search pattern by editing the directory mask.

Allow the user to navigate the text within each list component by pressing Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Ctrl Begin, and CtrlEnd. Allow the navigation actions PageUp and PageDown to move the cursored element within each list.

The contents of the directory in the text-entry field must correspond to the contents of the directory list. The contents of the file name text must also correspond to the contents of the file name list.

The user must be able to select a file by scrolling through the list of file names and selecting the desired file or by entering the file name directly into the text-entry field. Selecting a file from the list causes that file name to appear in the file selection text-display field.

The user can select a new file as many times as desired. The application must not process the file until one of the following events occurs:

The file selection dialog must initiate a directory and file search when any of the following occurs:

Provide a Find choice in the Edit menu to search for elements that match specified criteria. These elements may either be:

When Find is chosen, display a Find dialog window that allows a user to specify the parameters of the search. For example, when using the Find choice to search for text, allow a user to specify the text to be found, the direction of the search, sensitivity to text capitalization, and similar parameters.

If Find is used to find one match at a time, and more than one match meets the criteria, keep the Find dialog displayed.

When the user specifies new criteria (and matches are to be found one at a time) and chooses the Find push button, find the first match and display it in the dialog.

When the Find dialog remains displayed after the user chooses Find within it, find the next match when the user chooses Find again.

Provide first-letter cursor navigation in a selection scope only if the selection scope does not support a keystroke-based mechanism such as mnemonic navigation.

Skip white spaces that begin a textual label to determine the first character of a textual label used to match an item.

When a user types a printing character in a scope by using first-letter cursor navigation, move the location cursor in the scope to the next item whose textual label starts with that letter.

When a user enters a printing character that has no valid match, do not move the location cursor in the selection scope.

When a printing character entered into a text-display field that has focus is used for first-letter cursor navigation of an associated list, select the item matched and place its text contents into the text-display field. If there is no valid match, generate a warning signal and do not make any changes to the appearance of the list or text-display field.

When a printing character entered into a text-display field that has focus is used for first-letter cursor navigation of an associated list, and the list is not displayed, do one of the following:

When the value of the gauge cannot be directly changed, use a zero-width slider arm. Fill the track between the position of the minimum value and the current value to achieve a thermometer-like effect.

When the value of the gauge can be directly changed, do the following:

Do not display arrow buttons in a gauge if the value in the gauge cannot be changed.

All appropriate guidelines that apply to sliders apply to gauges whose values can be directly changed by the user.

When you use a group box, provide a group heading as well.

Do not allow a tab group to include elements from both inside and outside a group box.

Provide a Help menu-bar item in the menu bar of all windows that have a menu bar and provide help information.

In conjunction with the Menu Guidelines reference page, use Table 1-7 to decide which choices to include in the Help menu and how to organize them.

Do not display the shortcut key for On Item (for example, Shift F1 or Shift Help) in the menu entry if it would significantly increase the width of the Help menu.

When the user chooses On Item, initiate context-sensitive help mode by changing the shape of the pointer to the question mark pointer. When the user moves the pointer to the element for which help is needed and clicks the SELECT button, exit from the mode and present any context-sensitive help available for the element. When the user presses Cancel or Escape, exit from the mode without presenting help.

Use an icon to represent objects that the user can place in a container.

Define an icon to consist of an image and an optional textual label as follows:

Ensure that the image has a border that prevents the image and the background from merging.

Limit the detail in a small icon to avoid a cluttered appearance. For example, do not display a count of the number of objects in the container.

If an icon represents a named object, label the icon with the name of the object.

If direct editing can be used to change the textual label of an icon, include a Properties choice in the icon's pop-up menu, and include a text-entry field in the properties window through which the label can be changed.

An in-progress message in a secondary window should contain at least a graphic image, a textual label or message, and the OK and Close choices.

Do not interfere with the user's interaction with an application just because an in-progress message is being displayed; for example, normally make the in-progress message window a modeless window.

Close an in-progress message window when a request made by a user completes normally.

If information that would have been displayed in an information message is displayed in an in-progress message, do not close the window until the user explicitly requests to close it, such as by activating the Close push button.

Provide a Close push button to allow a user to close the in-progress message window without affecting the task.

Display the hourglass symbol at the left of an in-progress message. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

When Include is chosen, display an Include dialog window that allows the user to specify a subset of elements to be displayed within the view.

When an element is added to the data on which a view filtered by an include action is displayed, and the element matches the criteria for the view, display the element in the view.

Display an information message when a situation has occurred that the user may need to know about, but which has no follow-up actions the user can request.

Display an information message when there is additional information about the status of normal completion of a task or about the current status of the task.

If an in-progress message for the task is currently displayed in its own secondary window, do not use an information message. Instead, augment the in-progress message window with the message information.

Display the information symbol appropriate to your operating environment to the left of the information message. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Design the information message window to be modeless.

Provide an OK push button that allows a user to acknowledge the information displayed in the information message and to remove the message.

Display the (i) symbol as the graphic image at the left of an information message. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

When the user has set the input focus in the workspace to track the pointer, use an implicit focus policy to move focus from window to window by always ensuring that the window under the pointer has the focus.

When the user has set the input focus in the workspace to be explicitly changed, use an explicit focus policy to move focus from window to window.

When the user has set the input focus within a window to track the pointer, use an implicit focus policy to move focus from control to control within that window by always ensuring that the control under the pointer has the focus.

When the user has set the input focus within a window to be explicitly changed, use an explicit focus policy to move focus from control to control, except within controls that are spring sensitive.

When an explicit focus policy is in use in a workspace, and the user presses the SELECT button (optionally augmented by Shift and/or Ctrl) in a window, move the focus to that window.

When an explicit focus policy is in use in a window, and the user presses the SELECT button (possibly augmented by Shift and/or Ctrl) in a control that can take focus, in addition to performing any action the control binds to the button press, move the focus to the control, unless the control is used to change the visible portion of some area (for example, a scroll bar).

When a window that uses an explicit keyboard focus policy acquires focus through either keyboard navigation or a button press (but not by pressing SELECT [possibly augmented by Shift and/or Ctrl ] in a control in that window) causing that control to take focus, then move the focus to the control that last had focus in the window if the following are true:

Otherwise, move focus to either of the following:

Do not change the state, appearance, or behavior of a control when the user uses the keyboard to move the input focus to the control, except for showing focus emphasis. For example, when the user moves through a set of radio buttons with the directional keys, do not change the state of any of the radio buttons.

When the user presses Ctrl SELECT on a control that can take focus, move focus to the control but do not perform any other action unless pressing Ctrl SELECT already has a predefined meaning in that control.

Only one window at a time can have keyboard focus. Highlight the window that has focus. Within the window that has keyboard focus, only one component at a time can have focus.

The keyboard focus determines which component on the screen receives keyboard events. This rule prevents confusion about which window and component have focus.

If your application uses an explicit focus policy, when the user presses the SELECT button, do not move focus to a component that is not traversable or does not accept input.

An explicit focus policy requires the user to explicitly select which window or component receives keyboard focus. Generally, the user gives focus to a window or component by pressing the SELECT button over it. However, this policy must not allow the user to give focus to a component that is not traversable or does not accept input.

If your application uses an explicit focus policy, highlight (with a location cursor) the component with the keyboard focus.

The user needs to know the location of the keyboard focus to be able to control an application.

Support methods of interaction for keyboard-only users. All features of your application should be available from the keyboard.

Some users may not have access to a pointing device. These users need to be able to access the full functionality of the application from the keyboard. Also, advanced users may use the keyboard to perform some tasks more quickly than with a pointing device.

Use the following bindings for mouse buttons:

Do not warp the pointer unless you have given the user a means of disabling the behavior.

The pointer position is intended only as input to applications, not as an output mechanism. An application warps the pointer when it changes the pointer's position. This practice is confusing to users and reduces their sense of control over an application. Warping the pointer can also cause problems for users of absolute location pointing devices (for example, a puck on a graphics tablet).

Components or applications developed for CDE must adhere to Motif key bindings (see Appendix A).

If a control uses internal navigation to move an element cursor among elements within a control, follow all the rules for control navigation, proceeding as if the elements in the control were controls within a tab group.

Allow the directional keys to move a graphics cursor one unit in the indicated direction, where a unit is generally a pixel.

Allow the directional keys augmented by Ctrl to move a graphics cursor multiple units in the indicated direction.

Allow Home (or Begin) and End to move a graphics cursor to the leftmost and rightmost ends, respectively, of the data being viewed in the control. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Allow Ctrl Home (or Ctrl Begin) and Ctrl End to do one of the following:

Do not allow a graphics cursor to wrap from one edge to the opposite edge.

When the purpose of a control is to allow a positional indicator to be set to a value (for example, an arm in a slider), then when the control has focus, allow directional keys to move the positional indicator one unit (not necessarily one pixel) in the corresponding direction.

When the purpose of a control is to allow a positional indicator to be set to a value, allow directional keys augmented by Ctrl to move the positional indicator multiple units in the indicated direction.

If a control with a positional indicator has only one degree of freedom, then do one of the following:

If a control with a positional indicator has only one degree of freedom, then allow Home (or Begin) to move the positional indicator to its initial position, and End to move it to its final position.

If vertical and horizontal navigation have different effects on a positional indicator, then allow Home (or Begin) to move the indicator as far as it can go toward the initial or final horizontal positions. Allow Ctrl Home (or Ctrl Begin) and Ctrl End to move the indicator as far as it can go towards the initial or final vertical position.

If you use horizontal or vertical navigation to switch to a value from among a linear sequence of values, then make Home (or Begin) switch to the first such value, and End switch to the last such value.

Use equivalent, though not necessarily identical, mouse and keyboard techniques to provide access to all functions.

Use Ctrl, Shift, and Alt only to modify the function of other keys or key combinations on the keyboard or pointing-device actions.

Use Alt in conjunction with printing characters only to provide access to mnemonics in an application or for predefined actions. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

If the functions listed in Appendix B are provided, assign them to the keys listed in the table. Do not assign these functions to other keys. Only the user should reassign them.

If a label contains a significant amount of text and the user is likely to want to use it as a data transfer source, provide a means for both mouse and keyboard users to do so.

Do not treat a static text control as a tab group.

Do not support internal navigation or selection within a static text control.

If an element contains a choice described by a textual label, place the label within the element (for example, a push button or radio button) unless some other textual information needs to be placed there (for example, an option menu button).

If a label supports direct editing, support quick transfer to transfer the range of text identified by the quick transfer operation.

When the cursor is on a list item that labels a viewable object, make presenting that object the default action.

Design list boxes with either a single, browse, multiple, or extended selection model.

In a scrollable list box, do not allow the cursor to wrap.

Display the active cursor as an element cursor on the appropriate list item.

When the user presses Up Arrow or Down Arrow, navigate to the previous and next items in the list box, respectively.

If a list box can be scrolled horizontally, make it a tab group.

If a list box can be scrolled horizontally, then when focus is in the list box, allow Left Arrow and Right Arrow to scroll left and right by one character width, and Ctrl Left Arrow and Ctrl Right Arrow to scroll left and right by a larger amount.

Provide the list box with an area for presenting a list of labels as items.

Provide vertical scroll bars when some of the list items are not visible in the list box.

Arrange the list items vertically.

Use different cursor visuals when the list box is in add mode from the one used in normal mode.

If margin elements can take focus, place them in a separate selection scope and a separate tab group from the selection scope they control.

After using a margin point technique, do the following:

When using the margin click or swipe techniques:

When using the margin point, swipe, or click techniques in select mode:

When using the margin point, swipe, or click techniques in toggle mode, toggle all elements in the selection region, based on the toggling policy.

Provide a Maximize choice in the window menu when a user can change the size of a window.

Enlarge the window to the largest size possible for the current view when the user chooses Maximize from the window menu or its associated window icon.

Before maximizing a window, save its state (including its size and position) for use when the window is restored.

Do not make the Maximize choice available when the window is maximized.

If you provide a Maximize choice, also provide a maximize button that implements the Maximize choice on the title bar when the window is not currently maximized, and the user has not specified otherwise.

Replace the maximize button with a restore button that implements the Restore choice when a window is maximized.

Place only action, cascading, dialog, and value choices in a menu.

Provide the predefined mnemonic for each predefined textual choice in a menu.

Provide a unique mnemonic for each application-specific textual choice in a menu, unless there is no meaningful unique mnemonic.

Except in the Selected menu or in a pop-up menu (or a menu torn off from them), do not add or remove choices from a menu to indicate unavailability of choices. Instead, display unavailable choices with unavailable emphasis.

If a choice is not available to a particular user due to an external factor over which the user has no control, do not include or reserve space for the choice in a menu.

Display unavailable emphasis on action, value, and dialog choices in a menu that cannot be activated or toggled in the current context.

A cascaded menu should be just large enough so that the labels of all the choices in the menu are fully displayed.

Organize menus in either rows or columns.

If you provide cascading choices in a menu other than the menu bar, organize the menu in columns.

Support the use of directional keys for navigation in a menu system when the menu containing the focus is not spring sensitive.

In a menu organized in columns, make Down Arrow move the cursor to a choice in the row below, wrapping at the bottom row within the menu.

In a menu organized in rows, but not on a cascading choice, make Down Arrow move the cursor to the choice below, wrapping at the bottom edge within the menu.

In a menu organized in columns, make Up Arrow move the cursor to a choice in the row above, wrapping at the top row within the menu.

In a menu organized in rows, but not on a cascading choice, make Up Arrow move the cursor to the choice above, wrapping at the top edge within the menu.

In a menu organized in rows or columns, whose parent is not a menu, make Left Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the left, wrapping at the left edge within the menu.

In a menu organized in rows or columns, but not at the left edge, make Left Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the left.

At the left edge of a menu organized in rows or columns, whose parent menu is organized in columns, make Left Arrow remove the menu and move the cursor to its associated cascading choice.

At the left edge of a menu organized in rows or columns, cascaded from a menu-bar item, make Left Arrow remove the menu and activate the menu-bar item to the left, first wrapping within the menu bar, if necessary.

In a menu organized in columns, on a cascading choice, make Right Arrow activate the choice.

In a menu organized in rows or columns, whose parent is not a menu, but not on a cascading choice, make Right Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the right, wrapping at the right edge within the menu.

In a menu organized in rows or columns, but not at the right edge, and not on a cascading choice, make Right Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the right.

At the right edge of a menu organized in rows or columns, whose cascaded menu ancestors are all organized in columns, and which is ultimately descended from a menu-bar item, but not on a cascading choice, make Right Arrow remove all the cascaded menus and activate the menu-bar item to the right, first wrapping within the menu bar, if necessary.

When a cascading choice is used in a menu whose choices are aligned vertically, display a right-pointing arrow to the right of the choice and align the right edge of the arrow with the right edge of the menu.

If a spring-loaded menu is displayed and is not spring sensitive, give it focus unless the focus is in a descendant spring-loaded menu.

When focus moves to a menu that has just been displayed, place the active cursor on the default choice in the menu. If not determined in any other specified way, make the default choice the first choice in the menu or, if that is a tear-off choice, the following choice.

When a submenu is displayed from a menu-bar item, place it, if possible, immediately below the menu-bar item, with the left edges of the menu and menu-bar item aligned.

When a submenu is displayed from a menu organized as a single column, place the submenu, if possible, so that its left edge is aligned with the right edge of the parent menu.

When the active cursor is on an available choice in a menu and the user presses Select, Space, Ctrl Space,Enter,CtrlEnter, or keypadEnter, activate or toggle the choice.

Provide a menu bar if you provide any of the action choices included in the File menu, other than Close or Exit.

Provide a menu bar if you provide any of the action choices included in the View menu.

Place only cascading choices in a menu bar.

A cascading choice in a menu bar leads to a pull-down menu.

In conjunction with the Menu Guidelines reference page, use Table 1-8 to decide which choices to include in a menu bar and how to organize them.

In a menu bar, make Left Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the left, wrapping at the left edge within the menu bar.

In a menu bar, make Right Arrow move the cursor to the choice to the right, wrapping at the right edge within the menu bar.

In a menu bar, make Down Arrow activate the cursored cascading choice, display the associated pull-down menu, and move focus to it.

When focus is in a control in a window and the user presses F10 or Shift Menu, navigate to the first item in the menu bar.

If a window has a menu bar, but focus is in a different spring-loaded system originating from the client area of that window, then make pressing F10 or Shift Menu deactivate the spring-loaded system before navigating to the first item in the menu bar.

If the focus is in a menu-bar system, make pressing F10 or Shift Menu deactivate the system.

Place the menu bar at the top of the client area of a window and extend it the width of the entire window.

Align menu-bar items horizontally and lay them out left to right. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Do not display a graphic (in particular, a down-arrow graphic) along with a cascading choice in a menu-bar item.

Do not use menu cascade buttons at the top of a window in place of a menu bar.

Do not use menu cascade buttons to provide choices that apply to the window or the controls in a window as a whole.

When focus is on a menu cascade button and the user presses Select, spacebar, or Ctrl spacebar, display the associated pull-down menu and move focus to it.

Except in a window menu button, display a down-arrow graphic to the right of the cascading choice in a menu cascade button. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

If a choice for a described menu is marked [ ], then your menu should include that choice if that functionality can be reasonably provided by your application.

If your menu includes a choice whose functionality is the same as any choice listed for that menu, use the predefined label specified for the choice.

If your menu includes two or more of the choices listed for that menu, they should appear in the order listed.

The choice in the described menus are separated into groups. If your menu includes items listed in different groups, use a separator to separate the items.

If a choice for a described menu has a mnemonic or shortcut key specified, then if the choice appears in your menu, use that mnemonic or shortcut key.

If a choice for a described menu has a mnemonic specified, but that choice does not appear in your menu, do not use the mnemonic for other choices in the menu.

Phrase message text so that a user clearly understands what caused the message as well as what action, if any, can be taken to correct the situation that caused the message.

When wording the messages displayed by your application, do not assume that the user has any expert knowledge about computer systems in general or the operating system in particular. You can assume that the user has knowledge about basic interface terms that could have been learned through tutorials, help information, and user documentation. However, avoid terminology that is typically understood only by an expert or knowledgeable computer user unless the application is specifically targeted at computer professionals. Also, messages returned to your application by the underlying system should not be passed directly to the user, but instead should be interpreted into language the novice user can understand.

If a window associated with the task or element for which the task is being performed is open, display the message in a secondary window that depends on the associated window.

If no associated window is open for a task being performed and for which an urgent message must be displayed, then display the message in a secondary window and, optionally, display the task's window if such a window exists.

If no associated window is open for the task being performed and for which a nonurgent message needs to be displayed, then place the message in a secondary window, but do not display it. Optionally, change the appearance of the icon through which the window can be displayed if such a window exists.

Provide the Minimize choice in the window menu of a primary window.

Do not provide the Minimize choice for secondary windows.

Remove the window from the display and display its window icon, if not already displayed, when the user chooses Minimize from the window menu or the associated window icon.

Before minimizing a window, save its state, including its size and position, along with the state of each of its secondary windows to be used when the window is restored.

Do not make the Minimize choice available when the window is minimized.

Even if a window has been minimized, design the application to continue to perform any application tasks initiated through that window.

If you provide a Minimize choice and the user has not specified otherwise, also provide a minimize button that implements the Minimize choice on the title bar.

Provide a predefined mnemonic for each predefined textual choice in a menu.

Provide a mnemonic for each textual choice in a menu, unless you cannot find a meaningful unique mnemonic.

Make mnemonics unique among all choices in a menu.

Make mnemonics unique among all radio buttons and check boxes in a tab group.

Make mnemonics unique among all push buttons, group headings, and menu-bar items.

If a mnemonic is an alphabetic character, allow the user to press either the uppercase or lowercase character.

The character used as a label's mnemonic must appear in the label and be highlighted within it, generally by underlining it.

When the active cursor is in a menu and the user types the mnemonic of a choice within that menu, move the cursor to the choice and activate or toggle it.

When the user presses Alt plus a mnemonic associated with a menu-bar item, activate that menu-bar item and move focus to the menu pulled down from it.

When the user presses Alt plus a mnemonic associated with an option menu or menu cascade button, pull down the corresponding menu and move focus to it.

Provide support for a mouse as a pointing device.

Support the following virtual mouse buttons:

The period of time between button release and the subsequent press in a multi-click event is user adjustable, and the default is not less than 100 milliseconds.

Do not assign double-click functions to choices on which the user will typically perform multiple single clicks, such as on push buttons.

Support a 3-button mouse.

Treat a 2-button mouse as a 3-button mouse if it has been configured so that the third button is available by chording the other two buttons (for example, with MB1+MB2 treated as MB3).

On a 3-button mouse, bind MENU to MB3.

Allow the user to choose whether the bindings on a 3-button mouse support one of the following:

If you support binding TRANSFER to MB2 and also integrate TRANSFER with SELECT on MB1, then whenever MB1 is pressed and moved, interpret the action as a drag-and-drop operation. Ensure that when MB2 is pressed and the pointer is moved along the same path, it will have an identical effect.

If you support binding ADJUST to MB2, design your application so that using ADJUST is identical to using Shift SELECT.

Support a 2-button mouse.

Allow the user to choose whether the bindings on a 2-button mouse support one of the following:

When appropriate, the File Selection dialog should allow the user to differentiate between moving the link or reference to a file or object, moving its underlying storage location, or both.

After using a multilevel point technique:

When using a multilevel click or swipe technique:

When using a multilevel point, swipe, or click technique in select mode:

When using a multilevel point, swipe, or click technique in toggle mode, toggle all elements in the selection region, based on the toggling policy.

When using an adjustment technique to adjust a selection initially made using a multilevel technique, expand the selection region so that if an element is in the region, all elements in its part (depending on the number of times the SELECT button was pressed in the initial technique) are also included in the region.

When using a multilevel adjust click or swipe technique:

Organize the controls within each page of a multipage control into one or more tab groups.

Do not use tab group navigation to switch pages of a multipage control.

When forward tab group navigation is in use, traverse all tab groups on a visible page before navigating off the page.

When tab group navigation moves focus into a multipage control, place focus, initially, in one of the visible pages.

When the keyboard focus policy is explicit, allow the user to press the SELECT button on a component to move focus to it, except for components, such as scroll bars, that are used to adjust the size and location of other elements.

When the pointer is on a menu, allow the user to press the SELECT button to activate the menu in a spring-loaded manner.

When the pointer is on an element with an inactive pop-up menu and the context of the element allows the pop-up menu to be displayed, allow the user to press the MENU button to activate the pop-up menu in a spring-loaded manner.

If the user takes an action to display a pop-up menu, and a menu can be displayed for both an inner element and an outer element that contains the inner element, display the pop-up menu for the internal element. Be sure that the pop-up menu for an internal element is always accessible.

Once a pop-up menu is displayed, make the MENU button behave just as the SELECT button does for any menu system.

Make the SELECT button available from within posted pop-up menus. It should behave just as in any menu system.

When a menu is popped up or pulled down, place the location cursor on the menu's default entry or on the first entry in the menu, if there is no default entry.

Remove a spring-loaded menu system when the mouse button that activated it is released, except when the button is released on a cascading button in the menu hierarchy.

While a spring-loaded menu is popped up or pulled down, moving the pointer within the menu system moves the location cursor to track the pointer.

When a spring-loaded menu is popped up or pulled down and the pointer rests on a cascading button, pull down the associated menu and make it traverse. Remove the associated menu, possibly after a short delay, when the pointer moves to a menu item outside of the menu or its cascading button.

When a spring-loaded menu that is part of the menu bar is pulled down, moving the pointer to any other element on the menu bar unposts the current menu system and posts the pull-down menu associated with the new element.

When a spring-loaded menu is popped up or pulled down, and the button that activated the menu system is released within a component in the menu system, activate that component. If the release is on a cascading button or an option button, activate the associated menu in a posted manner if it was not posted prior to the associated button press.

When the pointer is in an area with a pop-up menu, allow the user to click the MENU button to activate the menu in a posted manner if it was not posted prior to clicking the MENU button.

Once a pull-down or option menu is displayed, pressing the SELECT button in the menu system causes the menu to behave as a spring-loaded menu. This allows the user to switch easily between using a posted menu and a spring-loaded menu.

If a button press unposts a menu and that button press is not also passed to the underlying component, do not pass subsequent events up to and including the button release to the underlying component.

When a button press unposts a menu, the press can be passed to the underlying component. Whether or not it is passed to the underlying component, the press can have additional effects, such as raising and giving focus to the underlying window. If the press is not passed to the underlying component, events up to and including the release must not be passed to that component.

Once a pop-up menu is displayed, pressing the SELECT button or pressing the MENU button in the menu system causes the menu to behave as a spring-loaded menu.

Pressing or clicking the MENU button on an option button displays the option menu.

Pressing the SELECT button on a text field causes the text cursor to be inserted at the mouse cursor position.

In a text component, display the text cursor differently when it has keyboard focus than when it does not. In a text component, the text cursor serves as the location cursor and, therefore, must indicate whether the component has keyboard focus.

If a text component indicates that it has lost the keyboard focus by hiding the text cursor and if the component subsequently regains the focus, the cursor should reappear at the same position it had when the component lost focus. The text cursor should not change position when a text component loses and then gains keyboard focus.

In a small component, such as a sash, indicate that it has keyboard focus by filling it. No other meaning should be associated with the filled state.

Pressing Ctrl Tab moves the location cursor to the next field, and pressing Ctrl Shift Tab moves the location cursor to the previous field. Unless Tab and Shift Tab are used for internal navigation within a field, pressing Tab also moves the location cursor to the next field, and pressing Shift Tab also moves the location cursor to the previous field.

Pressing Tab (if not used for internal navigation) or Ctrl Tab moves the location cursor forward through fields in a window according to the following rules:

Pressing Shift Tab (if not used for internal navigation) or Ctrl Shift Tab moves the location cursor backward through fields in the order opposite to that of Tab (if not used for internal navigation) and Ctrl Tab.

When a window acquires focus, place the location cursor on the control that last had focus in the window, providing that all the following conditions are met:

Wrap field navigation between the first and last fields in the window.

When Down Arrow and Up Arrow are used for component navigation within a field, they should behave according to the following rules:

When Right Arrow and Left Arrow are used for component navigation within a field, they should behave according to the following rules:

If a control uses Right Arrow and Left Arrow for internal navigation, pressing Begin moves the location cursor to the leftmost edge of the data or the leftmost element in a left-to-right language environment. In a right-to-left language environment, pressing Begin moves the location cursor to the rightmost edge of the data or the rightmost element.

If a control uses Right Arrow and Left Arrow for internal navigation, pressing End moves the location cursor to the rightmost edge of the data or the rightmost element in a left-to-right language environment. In a right-to-left language environment, pressing End moves the location cursor to the leftmost edge of the data or the leftmost element.

If a control uses Down Arrow and Up Arrow for internal navigation, pressing Ctrl Begin moves the location cursor to one of the following:

If a control uses Down Arrow and Up Arrow for internal navigation, pressing Ctrl End moves the location cursor to one of the following:

Pressing Tab key moves input focus between push buttons within a group.

The Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys should modify only the function of other keys or key combinations.

If the user traverses to a menu while the keyboard focus policy is implicit, temporarily change the focus policy to explicit and reverts to implicit whenever the user traverses out of the menu system.

Menus must always be traversable, even when the keyboard focus policy is generally implicit.

Pressing F10 activates the menu bar-system if it is inactive and the location cursor is placed on the first traversable cascading button in the menu bar. If there are no traversable cascading buttons, the key should do nothing.

When the keyboard focus is in an element with an inactive pop-up menu and the context of the element allows the pop-up menu to be displayed, pressing menu activates the pop-up menu and places the location cursor on the default item of the menu or on the first traversable item in the pop-up menu, if there is no default item.

When the keyboard focus is in an option button, pressing Select or Spacebar displays the option menu and places location cursor on the previously selected item in the option menu; or, if the option menu has been pulled down for the first time, places the location cursor on the default item in the menu. If there is an active option menu, pressing Return, Select, or Spacebar selects the current item in the option menu, unposts the menu system, and returns the location cursor to the option button.

Pressing Down Arrow, Up Arrow, Left Arrow, and Right Arrow traverses through the items in a menu system.

When a menu traversal action traverses to the next or previous component in a menu or menu bar, the order of traversal and the wrapping behavior should be the same as that of the corresponding component navigation action within a field.

If your application uses any two-dimensional menus, do not include any cascading buttons. Cascading buttons in a two-dimensional menu restricts the user's ability to use the keyboard to navigate to all of the elements of the menu.

When focus is on a component in a menu or menu-bar system, pressing Down Arrow behaves in the following way:

When focus is on a component in a menu or menu-bar system, pressing Up Arrow behaves in the following way:

When focus is on a component in a menu or menu-bar system, pressing Left Arrow behaves in the following way:

When focus is on a component in a menu or menu-bar system, pressing Right Arrow behaves in the following way:

Allow all menu traversal actions, with the exception of menu posting, to traverse to tear-off buttons in the same way as for other menu entries. Traversal of tear-off buttons needs to be consistent with traversal of other menu items.

If your application uses F10, Menu, or Cancel to unpost an entire menu system and an explicit focus policy is in use, move the location cursor back to the component that had it before the menu system was posted.

Any scrollable components within your application should support the appropriate navigation and scrolling operations. The page navigation keys Page Up, Page Down, Control Page Up (for Page Left), and Control Page Down (for Page Right) scroll the visible region by a page increment. The user needs to be able to view and access the entire contents of a scrollable component.

When scrolling by a page, leave at least one unit of overlap between the old and new pages.

Any keyboard operation that moves the cursor to or in the component, or that inserts, deletes, or modifies items at the cursor location should scroll the component so that the cursor is visible when the operation is complete. The user needs to be able to see the results of moving the location cursor or the effects of operating on the contents of the scrollable component.

If a mouse-based scrolling action is in progress, pressing Cancel cancels the scrolling action and returns the scrolling device to its state prior to the start of the scrolling operation.

The New choice in the File menu either replaces the contents of the current window or opens a new window (which is recommended).

When the user chooses New from the File menu, and the contents of the window are to be replaced, prompt the user with a message to save the window contents if possible.

The New choice in the Selected menu creates a new object of the single type managed and displayed by the application, and includes it in the selection scope displayed within the window.

When the user chooses New from the Selected menu, give the newly created object a default name that does not conflict with the name of an existing object and allow the user to change the name.

Provide a New Window choice in the View menu if your application allows a user to display a new window that contains another view of the data viewed in the current window.

When New Window is an action choice, choosing it displays a new window that contains the same view of the data as the current window, or a default view.

When New Window is a cascading choice, its cascaded menu must list the views available to be shown in the new window.