Pop-up Menus

Even if you include a menu bar in your software's interface, you should also support pop-up menus. Pop-up menus provide an efficient way for the user to access the operations of objects, as shown in Figure 7.2. Because pop-up menus are displayed at the pointer's current location, they eliminate the need for the user to move the pointer to the menu bar or a toolbar. In addition, because you populate pop-up menus with commands specific to the object or its immediate context, they reduce the number of commands the user must browse through. Pop-up menus also minimize screen clutter because they are displayed only upon demand and do not require dedicated screen space.

Figure 7.2 A pop-up menu

While a pop-up menu looks similar to a drop-down menu, a pop-up menu should only contain commands that apply to the selected object or objects and its context, rather than commands grouped by function. For example, a pop-up menu for a text selection can include commands for moving and copying the text and access to the font properties of the text and the paragraph properties of which the selection is a part. However, keep the size of the pop-up menu as small as possible by limiting the items on the menu to common, frequent actions. It is better to include a single Properties command and allow the user to navigate among properties in the resulting property sheet than to list individual properties in the pop-up menu.

The container or the composition of which a selection is a part typically supplies the pop-up menu for the selection. Similarly, the commands included on a pop-up menu may not always be supplied by the object itself, but rather be a combination of those commands provided by the object and by its current container. For example, the pop-up menu for a file in a folder includes transfer commands. In this case, the folder (container) supplies the commands, not the files. Pop-up menus for OLE objects follow these same conventions.

Avoid using a pop-up menu as the exclusive means to a particular operation. At the same time, the items in a pop-up menu need not be limited only to commands that are provided in drop-down menus.

When ordering the commands in a pop-up menu, use the following guidelines:

• Place the object's primary commands first (for example, commands such as Open, Play, and Print), transfer commands, other commands supported by the object (whether provided by the object or by its context), and the What's This? command (when supported).
• Order the transfer commands as Cut, Copy, Paste, and other specialized Paste commands.
• Place the Properties command, when present, as the last command on the menu.

Note
For more information about transfer commands and the Properties command, see Chapter 5, "General Interaction Techniques." For more information about the What's This? command, see Chapter 12, "User Assistance."