Bug 63827 - UI Main Menu slight re-org/rename for R3.0 add View and Editor specific Navigate submenus
Summary: UI Main Menu slight re-org/rename for R3.0 add View and Editor specific Navig...
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: Platform
Classification: Eclipse Project
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version: 3.0   Edit
Hardware: PC Windows XP
: P3 normal (vote)
Target Milestone: ---   Edit
Assignee: Kim Horne CLA
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: polish
: 35360 65217 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2004-05-25 08:43 EDT by Michael Van Meekeren CLA
Modified: 2007-12-19 11:36 EST (History)
6 users (show)

See Also:


Attachments
Typical menu with and without ellipsis (8.96 KB, image/pjpeg)
2004-06-02 10:40 EDT, Dan Kehn CLA
no flags Details
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.editors (716 bytes, patch)
2004-06-02 17:50 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details | Diff
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.workbench (1.52 KB, patch)
2004-06-02 17:50 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details | Diff
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.ide (2.49 KB, patch)
2004-06-02 17:51 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details | Diff
Possible change (62.33 KB, image/jpeg)
2004-06-08 10:23 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.ide (2.33 KB, patch)
2004-06-08 10:34 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details | Diff
Patch for org.eclipse.jdt.ui (1.55 KB, patch)
2004-06-08 10:35 EDT, Kim Horne CLA
no flags Details | Diff
GUI blooper (12.21 KB, image/pjpeg)
2004-06-10 15:17 EDT, Dan Kehn CLA
no flags Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-05-25 08:43:49 EDT
The following are suggestions for polish items concerning menus owned by 
Platform UI.

Window Menu
       remove
		Hide Editors
		Lock Toolbars (not the popup)

	change
		Preferences...   TO  Preferences


Navigate 
	WITH PROBLEMS VIEW SELECTED
        rename
		Next TO Next Problem
		Previous TO Previous Problem


		<The following is a proposal for back + forward etc...>

		ADD 

		Navigate > "View" > Go Into / Back / Forward / up one level / 
and Possibly Go To Line...
		Navigate > Editors > Back / Forward / Previous Member / Next 
Member /Matching Bracket
		REMOVE Go To menu and all remaining sub items

File
	Move "Open External File..." and "Open Workspace..." to their own 
group below Print.
	Rename
		"Open Workspace..."  TO "Switch Workspace..."

	Remove separator between Refresh and Rename
Comment 1 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-05-25 12:23:36 EDT
Note: Navigate > Go To > Type... package... and Resource... should be in the 
views menu as well, however they are global re-targetable actions, so 
editors 'could' hook them.. .but putting them in the view menu would set a 
better precident.
Comment 2 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-05-25 12:24:52 EDT
*** Bug 35360 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 Kim Horne CLA 2004-05-25 13:53:49 EDT
A question regarding Window menu change.  Why drop the ... from Preferences?
This makes the preference action inconsistant with every other action that
launches a dialog (Customize Perspective, Save Perspective As, etc).
Comment 4 Kim Horne CLA 2004-05-25 14:32:51 EDT
To clarify:  the Problems view does not provide action handlers for next and
previous, so there is no way to override these strings.

Grouping Open Workspace/Open External File below Print will either require a) a
new API constant in IWorkbenchActionConstants or b) overloading
IWorkbenchActionConstants.OPEN_EXT to also be applicable to the file menu.  What
would you prefer?
Comment 5 Erich Gamma CLA 2004-05-25 18:11:43 EDT
You are correct neither the problems, tasks, nor bookmark view register global 
action handlers for Next and Previous. This is inconsistent with the other 
views (search, synchronize, junit). I therefore suggest that these views also 
register global action handlers for next and previous with custom labels Next 
Problem, Next Task, Next Bookmark.
Comment 6 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-05-27 11:41:34 EDT
we can't add API right now, I prefer option 2 in comment #4, and we re-visit 
later.
Comment 7 Nick Edgar CLA 2004-05-27 15:07:19 EDT
It's fine to reuse OPEN_EXT in other contexts.
Comment 8 Nick Edgar CLA 2004-05-27 17:47:56 EDT
Re comment #3, "..." is only used when the action needs further input to
complete the action.  Here, the action is to open the perspectives dialog, so it
doesn't need further input.  Help > About is the same.

The GUI Bloopers book discusses this.  It's also mentioned here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwue/html/ch08b.asp
"(Ellipses are typically used when further input from the user is required to
carry out the command.)"
Comment 9 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-05-28 09:59:01 EDT
Kim, can you clarify what has been done for this bug?
Comment 10 Kim Horne CLA 2004-05-28 10:02:31 EDT
Nothing has been committed as of yet.  The following is done and waiting for
committal:

hide editors and lock toolbars removed.
open workspace/external file to their own group and open workspace renamed

seperator between refresh and rename is gone
Comment 11 Kim Horne CLA 2004-05-28 11:51:07 EDT
This wont make it in for RC1.  Deferring to RC2.
Comment 12 Adam Kiezun CLA 2004-05-28 14:37:42 EDT
Nick,
re comment 8: as of 3.0 M9 'Window > Preferences...' has the trailing ellipsis.
Is it a bug then?


(no, if you ask me - it opens a dialog and whenever i see a menu entry with no
ellipsis i'm soft of expecting that (possibly unwanted) things will happen and i
should be careful. here, there's nothing to be careful about. maybe the bloopers
book had a blooper then :)) Also, Microsoft's IE has 'Tools > Internet
Options...' with the ellipsis. I don't feel strongly about either option though.
Comment 13 Nick Edgar CLA 2004-05-31 09:42:18 EDT
IE's Options... item doesn't follow their own guidelines.

I guess it depends on whether you interpret the Preferences[...] action as being
"Open preferences dialog" or "View preferences" vs. "Change preferences".
If it's the latter, then the ellipsis makes sense, since the operation is not
complete until the dialog is brought up, the user makes their change, then
presses Apply or OK.
Comment 14 Nick Edgar CLA 2004-06-02 10:06:58 EDT
*** Bug 65217 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 15 Dan Kehn CLA 2004-06-02 10:39:30 EDT
Re: Comment #13

Nice to see that we're thinking UI polish.  I have noticed a distinct drop in 
consistency of the Eclipse UI in this release compared to those in the past.  
Yeah yeah, they're all nits but hey... if you buy a Mercedes, the doors 
shouldn't squeak, the cupholders should be straight, and the floormats should 
fit.  :-)

To the point, my understanding of "ellipsis or not" is pretty simplistic: 

Q1. Is there another dialog displayed?  If yes, then...
Q2. Is the dialog that's displayed the "destination" or an attempt to further 
clarify a pathway to the "destination"?

The "Save As..." choice is real clear on this point since the subsequent 
dialog is just clarifying what I would have liked to say up front, if there 
were such a means (contrast with "Save").  The "Properties" choice is less 
clear but still fits within "Dan's destination rules," albeit not quite as 
obviously as "Save As...".

Specifically to an earlier point, in my view, the "Preferences" page is the 
same as the "Properties" choice.  So no ellipsis.

Re: Comment #12

I see your point, but the problem with the simplified rule "if a window or 
dialog shows up, it needs an ellipsis" is problematic.  Lots of menu choices 
have confirmation dialogs ("Are you sure?") and worse yet, these can be turned 
on and off.  That means, for example, "Delete" in one case and "Delete..." in 
another.  What quickly results is a near systematic application of the 
ellipsis to menu choices except for the most trivial of cases (e.g., Copy [to 
clipboard]).  If the majority of the menu choices end with "...", the meaning 
is lost.

The menu I've attached it typical of an appropriate application of the MS 
style guide / Dan's rule.  Six of the choices present **some** window, but 
only three have "..." -- that's because they have to ask the question, "which 
one of XXX are you talking about?"  The remaining three don't and thus are 
destinations in and of themselves.

I hope this rambling was helpful.  If so, then maybe all those years in CUA-
land didn't go completely to waste (if you don't know what CUA stands for, 
don't ask and consider yourself lucky  ;-).
Comment 16 Dan Kehn CLA 2004-06-02 10:40:05 EDT
Created attachment 11467 [details]
Typical menu with and without ellipsis
Comment 17 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-02 17:50:18 EDT
Created attachment 11504 [details]
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.editors

Partial fix
Comment 18 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-02 17:50:48 EDT
Created attachment 11506 [details]
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.workbench

Partial fix
Comment 19 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-02 17:51:21 EDT
Created attachment 11507 [details]
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.ide

Partial fix
Comment 20 Nick Edgar CLA 2004-06-03 09:55:20 EDT
The patches look fine to me.
Comment 21 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-03 10:50:55 EDT
The above patches have been applied.  I am still investigating the
reorganization to the Navigate menu
Comment 22 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-08 10:23:35 EDT
Created attachment 11722 [details]
Possible change

Without indroducing new workbench constants for an editor menu (and reusing the
goTo constant to mean "Views") this is what we can do.	I don't think this is
much of an improvement at all.	I'd sooner defer this to 3.X where we can
define new constants for both views and editors and deprecate "Go To".
Comment 23 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-08 10:34:55 EDT
Created attachment 11727 [details]
Patch for org.eclipse.ui.ide

Patch for the above refactoring
Comment 24 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-08 10:35:21 EDT
Created attachment 11728 [details]
Patch for org.eclipse.jdt.ui
Comment 25 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2004-06-08 13:12:59 EDT
Agree, so we will not add new API at this stage and will defer the re-work of 
the Views vs Editor navigation items till post 3.0.  It is also unclear 
whether we should reuse Go To for views as others might contribute non-view 
items here.

Moving to 3.1 for the two remaining items, updating the title to represent 
what is left.
Comment 26 Dan Kehn CLA 2004-06-10 15:16:01 EDT
Spotted another period for a checkbox.  Funny how these crept into 3.0 (third 
case?), I don't recall ever seeing such an example in 2.x.  See attached.
Comment 27 Dan Kehn CLA 2004-06-10 15:17:08 EDT
Created attachment 11902 [details]
GUI blooper
Comment 28 Kim Horne CLA 2004-06-10 15:28:45 EDT
Thanks for spotting that - Bug 66574.
Comment 29 Kim Horne CLA 2005-05-24 08:20:30 EDT
Not for 3.1?  This has been in my bucket for ages.  I just found it... what should I do about this?
Comment 30 Nick Edgar CLA 2005-05-24 10:48:01 EDT
It's probably been made obsolete by the 3.1 menu review.
Should verify with MvM.
Comment 31 Michael Van Meekeren CLA 2006-03-21 17:13:17 EST
this is no longer valid, a new review of menus should be made on 3.2