Difference between revisions of "Rules to build user friendly menus"
From Freeplane - free mind mapping and knowledge management software
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=Rules to organize Commands in menus = | =Rules to organize Commands in menus = | ||
* (CO1) in a MM entry, items are grouped by type of operations (all commands to move nodes are at the same place) | * (CO1) in a MM entry, items are grouped by type of operations (all commands to move nodes are at the same place) | ||
| − | * (CO2) items are ordered logicaly (items used first at the beginning : ie Create Node | + | * (CO2) items are ordered logicaly (items used first at the beginning : ie "Create Node" then "Edit Node" then "Delete Node" or "Print Preview" then "Print". If no logical order can be found other rules can apply: |
| + | ** the most often used commands can be set in first position | ||
| + | ** order can also be set from particular to generic (ie: "Fold selected node" then "Fold all nodes of map") | ||
=Use of Sub Menus= | =Use of Sub Menus= | ||
Revision as of 10:31, 4 June 2011
Contents
Introduction
The purpose of this page is to describe 10 basic principles to build easy to use Menus for a rich mind map software called Freeplane !
You can refer to Menus : work in progress to follow and collaborate in the design of the new FreePlane menus structure.
Legend
In this page :
- MM means Main Menu. Main menu is the main bar of menus which gives access to all software features
- CO means Command. A command is available in menu, it executes an action
- SM means Sub Menu. A submenu is a menu entry which opens an other menu
- CM means Contextual Menu. A contextual menu is a menu displayed only in a specific context (ie while on a node or on the map background)
- XX# means rules number # for subject XX.
Rules to organize Main Menu
- (MM1) a MM entry is created for each kind of operation (File / Edit / Display ...)
- (MM2) MM should be in a logical order inspired by other softwares best practices
- (CO1) in a MM entry, items are grouped by type of operations (all commands to move nodes are at the same place)
- (CO2) items are ordered logicaly (items used first at the beginning : ie "Create Node" then "Edit Node" then "Delete Node" or "Print Preview" then "Print". If no logical order can be found other rules can apply:
- the most often used commands can be set in first position
- order can also be set from particular to generic (ie: "Fold selected node" then "Fold all nodes of map")
Use of Sub Menus
- (SM1) SM are created to simplify long MM or CM (ie more than 20 items in the menu)
- (SM2) SM should be limited to 3 levels (ie 3 clicks before displaying the wanted command)
- (SB3) SM should contain 3 items or more
Contextual Menu
- (CM1) in CM, order should be the same as in MM (consistency for end-users)
- (CM2) CM should contain only very frequently used commands
Toolbars
- (TB1) the rules for toolbars are the same as for CM : same order as MM, only frequently used commands.
