[APBeta] Windows menus

[Jared]

In Windows most child windows of an application don't actually have menus.
 Generally they're dialog boxes that take control from the application so
that you have to close the dialog box before returning to the main
application window.

For instance if you click on Edit->Preferences the preferences dialog
appears with no menu items.  Only options available to change the
preferences and maybe an "Ok" "Cancel" and "Apply" button.  Essentially this
forces the user to change any options before going back to the main
application.  When OK is clicked the preferences are then applied.

I've attached a screenshot of the Preferences in Photoshop that illustrates
this.  Notice the menu in the main application window and the lack of a menu
in the preferences window.  I would say most (90%+) of windows applications
behave in this manner.

Not all applications behave this way. Some allow the user to interact with
the main window when a dialog box is open.  However there are very few
applications that have identical menu items spread across different dialog
windows.

Now I'm not saying you should do this with AstroPlanner.  But that's how
most windows applications handle menus.

Keep up the excellent work!
Jared


On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Greg Elton <gelton at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> Point C - less clutter.
> Regards
> Greg Elton
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: apbeta-bounces at lists.astroplanner.net
> [mailto:apbeta-bounces at lists.astroplanner.net] On Behalf Of Paul Rodman
> Sent: Saturday, 31 October 2009 10:58
> To: AstroPlanner Beta Testers
> Subject: [APBeta] Windows menus
>
> Windows-using folks,
>
> What's the desired functionality for the menus in a window?
>
> a. Every window has all the menus with all menu entries, and just
> disables those that don't apply to the window (this is the current
> method).
>
> b. A window only has those menus that contain entries pertinent to the
> window, but those menus contain all the items, with the unused ones
> dimmed.
>
> c. A window only has those menus that contain entries pertinent to the
> window, and only containing items pertinent to the window. e.g. for a
> simple window, the File menu might only contain the "Close" item.
>
> I'm trying to figure out how typical Windows apps behave.
>
> Paul R.
>
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