Re: NSMenu* and NSPopuUp* issues

[Chris Hanson]

At 10:26 AM -0500 3/24/03, Jim Balhoff wrote:
> Which is why the NeXT-style vertical menu is so nice - the whole 
> menu is available where your mouse is right now, with a right-click. 
> A novice user can still see the options available in the menu 
> floating in the upper left corner, if they need.

Tog demonstrated in the mid-late 1980s that this type of system is 
actually slower than a menu bar bound to a screen edge.

You can't just assume that because the mouse has to travel further 
that an operation takes longer.  It may actually take less time 
because the user doesn't need to engage their fine motor skills for 
the entire duration of the task, only at the very end.

(This is why in-window menu bars like that in Microsoft Windows are 
terrible from a usability standpoint; they mimic the form of the 
infinitely-tall Macintosh menu bar but you actually have to use fine 
motor skills to both acquire and manipulate the control.  Doh!)

  -- Chris

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Chris Hanson, bDistributed.com, Inc.  |  Email: cmh@bDistributed.com
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