Motif and Common Desktop Environment: Style Guide Reference Migration Version

Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Selection Techniques

Reference

Description

A selection technique describes the action or actions a user performs to identify an element or group of elements. Depending upon the current selection mode, these elements will either be selected or have their selection state toggled (switched between selected and deselected). There are also individual and group selection techniques.

Individual selection techniques identify a single point or element. There are two individual selection techniques as described in Table 27.

Table 27. Individual Selection Techniques

Technique	Description	Device	Actions
Point	Identifies a single point or element.	Mouse	Click SELECT.
		Keyboard	Press Select. (If there is no Select key, use Space, except in text, or Ctrl Space).
Browse	Identifies a single element, possibly after browsing a number of other elements.	Mouse	Press, move, and release SELECT.
		Keyboard	Navigate the cursor.

Group selection techniques identify a group of elements. There are three classes of group selection techniques. Group techniques may have both swipe and click variants. Table 28 describes group selection techniques.

Table 28. Group Selection Techniques

Classes	Description	Variants	Description	Devices	Actions
Range	Identifies a contiguous sequence of elements by indicating the beginning and end of the range.	Click	The group is identified through discrete actions at different pointer or cursor positions.	Mouse	Click SELECT, move, click ADJUST
				Keyboard	Press SelectSpace, navigate cursor, press ShiftSelect
		Swipe	The group is identified through one continuous action.	Mouse	Press, move, and release SELECT.
				Keyboard	Navigate cursor (augmented by Shift ).
Area	Identifies the elements within a rectangular area by indicating the opposite corners of the area.	Click	The group is identified through discrete actions at different pointer or cursor positions.	Mouse	Click SELECT, move, click ADJUST.
				Keyboard	Press SelectSpace, navigate cursor, press ShiftSelect
		Swipe	The group is identified through one continuous action.	Mouse	Press SELECT, move, release SELECT.
				Keyboard	Hold Shift down while pressing a navigation key.
Touch	Identifies an arbitrary set of elements by touching each of them.	Swipe	The group is identified through one continuous action.	Mouse	Press SELECT, move, release SELECT.
				Keyboard	Press Select, navigate cursor, press Shift Select. (Use Space, except in text, or Ctrl Space instead of Select and Shift Space, except in text; or use Ctrl Shift Space instead of Shift Select if there is no Select key).

Adjustment, multilevel, and margin techniques are group techniques that are variants of the standard group techniques.

When to Use

Required

Provide a point technique to allow the user to identify a point as a basis for a subsequent adjustment technique.

Required

Provide a point technique to allow the user to select and/or toggle the selection state of any selectable element, except one that may also be activated or have its value toggled.

Required

If you support a group technique in select mode, support click and swipe variants of it.

Recommended

If you support a group technique, support click and swipe variants of it.

Recommended

If more than one element can be selected, support one or more group techniques.

Recommended

When elements in a scope are laid out in an arbitrary order and the elements are not densely packed together, allow the user to use both area and touch techniques.

Recommended

When elements in a scope are laid out in an arbitrary order and the elements are densely packed together, do not support use of the touch technique.

Guidelines

Required

When the user double clicks the SELECT button (optionally with Ctrl and/or Shift modifiers) on a selectable element and in a scope that does not support multilevel selection, it should first have the same effect as clicking SELECT (with the same modifiers) on that element and then performing the default action.

Required

If the user may also activate a selectable element or have its value toggled (for example, a push button or radio button), when the user clicks SELECT on it or presses Select (or Space or Ctrl Space) with the active cursor on it, activate or toggle it instead of selecting it. Such elements may be selected by use of a group technique that includes them in the group of elements to be selected.

Recommended

When the user double clicks the SELECT button (in select mode) on a selectable element that can also be activated or toggled, select it (deselecting all other elements in the scope) and activate or toggle it.

Recommended

When the user presses Enter or KeypadEnter in normal mode on a selectable element that can also be activated or toggled, select it (deselecting all other elements in the scope) and activate or toggle it.

Required

When the user presses Cancel or Escape, undo any incomplete selection operation. The application must ignore subsequent key and button releases until the user releases all keys and buttons.

Required

When the user presses Cancel or Escape during a range selection, deselect all elements in the range.

Required

When the user presses Cancel or Escape during a touch selection, leave the selection state of all the elements as they were prior to being touched.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Adjustment Techniques, Area Click Technique, Area Swipe Technique, Browse Technique, Margin Selection Techniques, Multilevel Selection Techniques, Point Technique, Range Click Technique, Range Swipe Technique, Selection Modes, and Touch Swipe Technique reference pages.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Selection Models and Selection Policies reference pages.