Re: GTK+ menu problems/suggestions

[Marko Macek <Marko Macek gmx net>]

Felix Bellaby wrote:
> 
> Owen Taylor writes:
>  >
>  > Marko Macek <Marko.Macek@gmx.net> writes:
>  >
>  > > Apart from the conditional cascade menus which gtk+ doesn't have yet:
>  >
>  > OK, a question:
>  >
>  >  What is a conditional cascade menu?
> 
> I first heard of these from Marko, as well. (o:
> 
> They were part of the OS/2 GUI and are used in the menu system in the
> icewm. They have two possible actions for each cascading menu item.
> 
> The first action is obtained with the mouse by pressing on the
> menu item label or with the keyboard using Enter. This first action
> does NOT cause a cascade.
> 
> The second action is obtained with the mouse by pressing (or dragging
> over) the cascade arrow (which appears as a little button) or with the
> keyboard by pressing ">". This second action causes the menu to
> cascade as in Motif, gtk, etc.
> 
> IMHO, the best usage binds the first action to one of the items
> included in the cascaded menu. This means that you can select
> a "default" menu item from a submenu without cascading it.
> However, the first action can be bound to anything at all.
> 
> I think these menu items are a good piece of GUI design.
> 
> The main drawback that I find with them is that they require good
> mouse control. You have to hit the (tiny) cascade arrow button to
> generate the cascade and when the submenu is mapped on the opposite
> side of the parent shell from the cascade arrow then you have to
> avoid moving outside the conditional cascade menu item as you
> cross over to the submenu (otherwise it unmaps and you have to go
> back across to find the cascade arrow button again).

The latest icewm also allows you to hold Ctrl and the menus will pop out
automatically. This is an improvement from OS/2 behaviour. (To select an
item with cascade shown you have click twice -- once to get rid of
cascade and the second to activate the command).
 
> However, this mouse skill becomes easier as you become used to
> using the widget and you start to see the advantages of being
> able to avoid cascading the submenu every time.

Avoiding the submenu is definately the biggest advantage.

Mark
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Marko.Macek@gmx.net                http://www.kiss.uni-lj.si/~k4fr0235/