Re: [HIG] REVIEW: My first-pass review of HIG

[Adam Elman <aelman users sourceforge net>]

At 7:02 PM +0100 10/15/01, Calum Benson wrote:
> Julian Missig wrote:
> >  Just a question, really...
> >  What if I have a Check Menu Item which says "Hide Offline Contacts"
> >  which is unchecked, and then the user clicks it and it changes to "Show
> >  Offline Contacts" and has a check mark next to it? The user will see the
> >  check mark and think that they have "Show Offline Contacts" enabled, no?
>
> I don't think anyone's suggesting that you should ever use both a
> checkmark *and* a dynamically-changing menu title at the same time...
> that sounds like a recipe for disaster!

Yep.  That is a truly frightening example there.  You should never, 
ever, ever, ever, ever use both a mark and a dynamically-changing 
menu item.

>   I think what Adam was saying is
> that the advice should be to use a single CheckMenuItem for individual
> on/off settings if the current and alternative states will be obvious,
> otherwise use two mutually-exclusive CheckMenuItems (e.g. if the
> alternatives aren't really opposites, such as "red" and "green"), or a
> single regular menu item with no checkmark, whose label changes
> depending on the current state (his "Turn Grid On" and "Turn Grid Off"
> example).
>
> At least, I think that's what he meant, although I'm not sure in which
> order of preference  :)

Yep, that's what I meant.

Having two CheckMenuItems is generally preferable, since it is then 
obvious from the location of the checkmark what option is currently 
selected.  For example:

* Grid On
   Grid Off

(where "*" is really a checkmark :) makes it immediately clear that 
the grid is on.  Having a single menu item "Turn Grid On" which 
changes to "Turn Grid Off" requires the user to actually think "OK, 
so if the command is 'turn it off' that means it's on."  If the items 
aren't really opposites, you _have_ to use two mutually exclusive 
CheckMenuItems.

If it's actually obvious on screen whether the feature is selected or 
not (as it is to some extent with "Show Toolbar / Hide Toolbar", this 
distinction is less important.   But it's still clearer to have both 
options in the menu if space permits.

Adam
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