Chapter 7 Jay Babb Andrew Bates Steve Haroz

Display limitation  Long, functionally grouped menus are preferred over deep menus.  Resolution problem 1996: 1024 x 768 = 768 k 1999: 1600 x 1200 = 1875 k Dual display: 2048 x 1536 x 2 = 6144 k

Task-Related Organization  Decomposition Book chapters Program Modules Species Restaurant menus  Computer menus Design difficulty Study: organized vs. disorganized Study: category vs. alphabetical

Types of Menus  Single Menus Can be a “pop-up”  Binary Menus Yes/No, True/False, Male/Female Mnemonic menus are popular Orientation OK/Cancel Dude, you’re using Windows 3.11 pictures…

Types of Menus Continued  Multiple-item menus Different options Radio buttons  Multiple-selection menus Check boxes  Pull-down and pop-up menus File, Edit, View… (shortcut keys) Pie menus? (crack kills…pie menus do too)

Types of Menus Continued  Scrolling and 2D menus  Alphasliders  Search functionality rocks…try it.  Embedded links (duh)  Iconic menus, toolbars, and palettes

Types of Menus Continued  Linear sequences and multiple menus Wizards  Tree-structured menus Creating classifications (tabs)  Depth versus breadth Breadth wins…I KNEW depth didn’t matter Some more math crap…blah, blah, blah

Types of Menus Continued  Task-related grouping in tree structures Create groups of logically similar items Form groups that will cover all possibilities Make sure items are non-overlapping Use familiar terminology, but distinguish  Menu maps (IMHO…old school)  Acyclic and cyclic menu networks

Item Presentation Sequence  Types of sequencing Time Numeric ordering Physical properties Alphabetic Related items Frequently used items Important items

Form Fillin Guidelines:  Meaningful and descriptive title  Use familiar field names and captions that are short and meaningful.  Keep terminology and abbreviations consistent  Convenient cursor and keyboard input  Prevents unwanted input  Signal completion of a task

Form Fillin  Short and descriptive field labels  Buttons describe their actions

List and Combo Boxes  Scroll boxes are good for long lists of items  Combo boxes allow the user to locate an item in a long list easily by typing the first few letters.

Coded Fields  An input field’s format should describe its expected input.  Should reject bad input Telephone: ( _ _ _ ) _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ ( –6262 ) Time: _ _ : _ _ _ _ (9:45 AM ) Date: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ (01/29/04)

Dialog Boxes  Open, Save, Find, Spell Check, etc.  Combines menu selection and form fillin  Shaped to fit the situation  Tabbed dialog boxes can make some tasks hard to find  Create a guidelines document for consistency

Dialog Box Guidelines  Descriptive title and field labels with consistent terminology  Group related tasks  Standard Buttons (OK, Cancel)  Prevent unexpected input  Not too large– should not obscure objects on the screen Form fillin?!!!!!!

New Ideas (in 1998)  Should users be able to change the structure their menus?  New layout designs  Better descriptions of tasks  Screen placement of forms and dialog boxes

Summary  Arrange menus according to task  Make menus and forms easy to navigate  Use descriptive names for menu items, form labels and dialog box captions.  Use software tools to quickly create menus, forms and dialog boxes