Wireshark · Ethereal-dev: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Protocol Hierarchy Statistics and Summary in the Analyze menu

[Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Jan 03, 2004 at 11:51:08PM -0800, Richard Sharpe wrote:
> Each of Protocol Hierarchy Statistics and Summary brings up windows that 
> you have to dismiss with Close etc. 
> 
> Does this qualify them to have ... after their names in the menus?

The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines:

	http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/1.0/menus.html

say:

	Label the menu item with a trailing ellipsis ("...") only if the
	command requires further input from the user before it can be
	performed.  Do not add an ellipsis to items that only present a
	confirmation dialog (such as Delete), or that do not require
	further input (such as Properties, Preferences or About).

I think other UI guidelines say similar things (I think that's the rule
for Windows, for example, and it's definitely the rule for Mac OS X -
the Aqua guidelines;

	http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/index.html

say:

	An ellipsis character (...) after a menu item or button label
	indicates to the user that additional information is required to
	complete a command.  You should use an ellipsis in the following
	cases:

	   o An action that requires further user input to complete or
	     presents an alert allowing the user to cancel the action. 
	     Examples include Find, Go To, Open, Page Setup, and Print.

	   o An action that opens a settings window.  The main function
	     of settings windows is to allow the user to change some
	     aspect of the application, not the document content. 
	     Examples include Set Title, Preferences, and Options.


	Don't use an ellipsis in the following cases:

	   o An action that requires no further user input to complete
	     and does not present an alert.  Often the item to be acted
	     upon is already selected.  Examples include New, Cut, Bold,
	     and Quit.

	   o An action that opens an informational, accessory, or tool
	     window.  These windows can be implemented as either utility
	     windows (as in the case of a color palette) or modeless
	     windows.  These windows provide tools that help create or
	     manage the content in the main window and are frequently
	     left open to assist in accomplishing the task of the main
	     window.  Examples include Get Info and Show Tools.

So a menu item that just pops up a window that shows information that you
can dismiss with "Close" doesn't get an ellipsis.