Difference between revisions of "Rules to build user friendly menus"
From Freeplane - free mind mapping and knowledge management software
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* (SB3) SM should contain 3 items or more | * (SB3) SM should contain 3 items or more | ||
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* (CM3) 3 navigation levels are the maximum allowed in contextual menu. | * (CM3) 3 navigation levels are the maximum allowed in contextual menu. | ||
| − | Node Contextual menu's benefits | + | =Node Contextual menu's benefits= |
* Limited mouse movments, don't need to go to Main Menu => quick access | * Limited mouse movments, don't need to go to Main Menu => quick access | ||
* Simplified menus displaying only most used features => easy to use | * Simplified menus displaying only most used features => easy to use | ||
Revision as of 18:49, 14 July 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
Rules to organize Contextual Menu
Rules applied to build contextual menu :
- (CM1) in CM, order should be the same as in MM (consistency for end-users). For instance Node Contextual menu is yet a copy of the Main Menu structure
- (CM2) CM should contain only very frequently used commands
- (CM3) 3 navigation levels are the maximum allowed in contextual menu.
- Limited mouse movments, don't need to go to Main Menu => quick access
- Simplified menus displaying only most used features => easy to use
- Available and fully fonctional while working on a map in full screen mode.
Toolbars
- (TB1) the rules for toolbars are the same as for CM : same order as MM, only frequently used commands.
