The format of the File and Edit popups in MENUDEMO follows the recommendations of the CUA Advanced Interface Design Guide. Many Windows programs have File and Edit popups. One of the objectives of Windows is to provide a user with a recognizable interface that does not require relearning basic concepts for each program. It certainly helps if the File and Edit menus look the same in every Windows program and use the same letters for selection with the Alt key.
Beyond the File and Edit popups, the menus of most Windows programs will be different. When designing a menu you should look at existing Windows programs and aim for some consistency. Of course, if you think these other programs are wrong and you know the right way to do it, nobody's going to stop you. Also keep in mind that revising a menu usually requires revising only the resource script and not your program code. You can move menu items around at a later time without many problems.
At the beginning of this chapter, I showed you a menu with nine top-level items but with only one popup that is invoked from the top-level menu. This menu is certainly atypical. Most often, each top-level item has a popup, even if the popup has only one option. Top-level items without popups can be too easily chosen by mistake.