RE: Menu UI issues

[Paul Hepworth <phepworth s-vision com>]

>  > I agree with this.  "A menu is just a toolbar" is a good idea.  I
> don't
>  > think the right-mouse menu should match the application main menu,
>  > however.  The right-mouse menu should be a context-menu with only
> the
>  > stuff relevant in the current context.  Nothing wrong with a
> submenu at
>  > the bottom for "Main menu -->", though.
> 
> No, because that would break the main advantage of pie menus -- that
> you don't have to read them.  If the right-button menu changed
> depending on what you were pointing to, or the state of your program,
> you couldn't mouse-ahead.
> 
Hogwash!  You get familiar with what should be on the context menu!
(I'm NOT condoning removing vs. graying.)  Consider a DTP app:  If I
bring up a context menu for a paragraph, I get sensible menu items for a
paragraph (font, line spacing, spell check, etc.).  If I bring up a
context menu for a chart, I get sensible menu items for a chart.  If I
bring up a context menu for a picture, I get sensible menu items for a
picture.  Contrast this with your scheme, wherein, even though I'm
selecting a paragraph, I must choose the "Paragraph" cascade menu, then
select what I really want from the "Paragraph" submenu.  Ewww!  Why
should I have to make my way through a bunch of cascades when it is easy
for the system to know which submenu I'm interested in (in a way that
doesn't surprise me!)  Ask an OS/2 user or even a windows user if
context menus are confusing;  tell them you're taking away their context
menus in exchange for the full application menu on a right clicke, and
you'll be in for a fight.  Context menus WORK!

Regarding pie menus, these sound great!  (assuming I don't have to run
through a bunch of obnoxious and inconvenient cascades to get to what I
really want, that is.)  (Not to mention that cascaded pie menus would be
a problem in the first place.)
Years ago, I was going to develop a CAD program, and in it, snap modes
and such things were selected from a popup "button grid" of 9*9 square
buttons with the middle square missing -- you guessed it, the mouse
pointer was in the middle square.  Same concept as a pie menu.
Would pie menus have rotated text?  That might be hard to read, but
anything else would probably be ugly.  Icons instead of text (with
tooltips) would be fine, though.


Paul