Motif and Common Desktop Environment: Style Guide Reference Migration Version

Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Menu Guidelines

Reference

Description

The following menu guidelines specify how to interpret the menu description included in the reference pages for the pop-up and standard pull-down menus.

Guidelines

Required

If a choice for a described menu is marked Required, then your menu should include that choice if that functionality can be reasonably provided by your application.

Recommended

If a choice for a described menu is marked Recommended, then your menu should include that choice if that functionality can be reasonably provided by your application.

Optional

If a choice for a described menu is marked Optional, then your menu can include that choice if that functionality can be reasonably provided by your application.

Required

If your menu includes a choice whose functionality is the same as any choice listed for that menu, use the predefined label specified for the choice.

Required

If your menu includes two or more of the choices listed for that menu, they should appear in the order listed.

Required

The choice in the described menus are separated into groups. If your menu includes items listed in different groups, use a separator to separate the items.

Required

If a choice for a described menu has a mnemonic or shortcut key specified, then if the choice appears in your menu, use that mnemonic or shortcut key.

Required

If a choice for a described menu has a mnemonic specified, but that choice does not appear in your menu, do not use the mnemonic for other choices in the menu.

Recommended

If a choice for a described menu has a shortcut key specified, but that choice does not appear in your menu, do not define that shortcut key in your application.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Edit (Menu), File Menu, Help (Menu/Action Choice), Mnemonic, Pop-Up Menu (Menu Type), Selected Menu, Shortcut Key, and View Menu reference pages.