[ Previous | Next | Contents | Glossary | Home | Search ]
Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

New (Action Choice)

Reference

Description

New is an action or dialog choice that creates a new file or object of the type that an application uses. When chosen from the File menu, the newly created file or object is displayed as well.

Guidelines

Required
The New choice in the File menu either replaces the contents of the current window or opens a new window (which is recommended).

Required
When the user chooses New from the File menu, and the contents of the window are to be replaced, prompt the user with a message to save the window contents if possible.

Recommended
Allow the user to set a property to determine whether New reuses the current window or opens a new window.

Required
The New choice in the Selected menu creates a new object of the single type managed and displayed by the application, and includes it in the selection scope displayed within the window.

Required
When the user chooses New from the Selected menu, give the newly created object a default name that does not conflict with the name of an existing object and allow the user to change the name.

Optional
If your application allows the user to create multiple types of objects, allow New to be used in the Selected menu as a cascading choice that displays a menu of the types of objects that can be created.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the File Menu, Selected Menu, and Window Title reference pages.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Menu Guidelines and Save/Save As (Action Choice) reference pages.

[ Previous | Next | Contents | Glossary | Home | Search ]