Designing the Graphical User Interface › Guidelines for Window and Dialog Box Design › Menu Bars Design

Menu Bars Design

All windows should have a menu bar. Menu bars are not used on dialog boxes.

Selecting a menu item results in one of the following actions for the user of the CA Gen application:

• Initiates a flow due to a command set that is an autoflow.
• Opens a supplemental dialog box to this procedure
• Executes the procedure from the top.
• Executes an event.
• Executes a special action.

The following list explains guidelines for menu bars:

• Place functionality into broad categories on the menu bar.
• Limit the number of items on the menu bar. A rule of thumb is a maximum of 10 items.
• You may choose to design in the window and help menu items.
• Use menu names that would be of interest to the user, for example, Policy, Payment, and Customer.
• The drop-down list of cascading menu items underneath each menu should contain actions that can be performed on that object, for example, New, Change, and Display. The following illustration shows the presentation of the drop-down menus.

  

• Capitalize the first letter of each word, except for noise words (such as a, the, and of). All other letters should be lowercase.
• Assign a mnemonic to each menu and each menu item to let the user use the keyboard instead of the mouse.
• If the selection of an option results in the opening of a dialog box, add an ellipsis (...) to the menu option. For example, Rename as... opens a dialog for the user to enter a new name.
• Assign an accelerator (also known as a hot key) to a frequently used menu item.
• The accelerator should be listed to the right of the menu item on the drop-down.
• An accelerator is a key or combination of keys that perform some function defined by the application. The accelerator allows the menu item can be selected with the minimal number of key strokes, no matter at what level the menu item is located.
• Available key options are F1 to F12, 0 to 9, and A to Z. You can combine these options with Ctrl, Alt or Shift to provide more options.
• Place the most frequently used items first in the menu drop-down.
• Place sub-menu options as follows:
  • Place in order of frequency when top items are used most of the time
  • Place in order of importance to show critical items first
  • Place in alphabetic order if the user knows the exact wording of each item
  • Place logically when the order will show work flow or other criteria are not met
• Always gray out unavailable menu items.
• Use separator lines to visually separate choices on a drop-down menu.
• A separator line is a horizontal that focuses the user's eye on the fact that the action within the lines is not necessarily consistent with the rest of the menu items.
• You should use separator lines for those menu item actions that could cause a significant change to the database or window, such as:
  • Select All
  • Deselect All
  • Delete

  The following illustration shows the use of separators for the Delete and Quit menu items.

  

When to use a drop-down menu instead of the menu bar:

• Invoking an action from the menu bar itself should be discouraged. Users find them awkward and hard to notice because they are more the exception.
• If an action would be the only item in the drop-down menu, try to place it within another drop-down menu, using separator bars to logically differentiate it from the other items.
• If you must place the action in the menu bar, make it stand out from the other menu bar items by placing an “!” after the test to indicate that there are no options under the item and the action will be invoked when selected.

More information:

Designing the Procedure Interaction

Designing the Procedure Logic

Special Actions for Menu Items and Push Buttons

Mnemonics