Legacy Maemo 5 Documentation/Human Interface Guidelines/View Menu

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=View Menu=
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{{Legacy documentation}}
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The view menu follows a very different approach from the traditional application menus. There is no menu bar, the view menu is activated when the user presses the application's title area.
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The view menu can hold until ten menus at most divided in two columns - or one column in portrait orientation. It can also include filters. The menu items are in fact buttons and there are no sub menus.
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The [[Legacy Maemo 5 Documentation/Graphical UI Tutorial/Menus#Touch view menu|View Menu]] does not have a traditional menu bar like desktop application menus have. The user activates the View Menu by pressing the application's title area.
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[[Image:view_menu.png|400px]]
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The View Menu can hold up to ten menu items and can be divided into two columns -- or one column when in portrait orientation. The View Menu can also include filters. As with selectable items within window views, menu items are in fact buttons, and have no submenus.  
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''Figure 8: A view menu''
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[[Image:view_menu.png|frame|center|alt=Screenshot of view menu|Figure 8: A view menu]]
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Place menu items that perform similar actions ("Previous" and "Next", for example) side by side within a View Menu, and place the most important menu items on the top of the view.
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Menus that perform similar actions, for example "Previous" and "Next" (like in figure 8), should be placed side by side. The most important menus should be placed on the top of the view.
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Do not repeat actions that are available from other locations within the application (either in the onscreen interface or via a hardware key) in a menu view.
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The View Menu must differ depending on the current view in the application. For example, if users are viewing the "Inbox" subview of an email application, they should access the view menu of the "Inbox" and not the view menu of the root view.
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Actions that are available from another place in the application (either in the interface or from a hardware key) shouldn't be repeated by a menu.
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==What if more menus are needed?==
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The view menu should be different according to the current view. For example, is a user is the the "Inbox" sub view of an email application, he should access the view menu of the "Inbox" and not the view menu of the root view.
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Follow the principles stated in section 1.8, "Hildonizing an Interface," to keep the interface simple yet functional.
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Avoid any use of submenus beyond what fits in the 10 menu item slots in the View menu. Even just removing those menu commands that do not fit, should be considered.
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==What if more menus are needed?==
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The fallback way to support additional menu items (in corner cases) is to have an menu item in the view menu that opens a dialog. That dialog has the action area removed, and contains a dialog wide grid of command buttons in two columns. Visually this is quite similar to the view menu itself.
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Following the principles stated in section 1.8, "Hildonizing an Interface", it is possible to keep the interface simple yet functional.
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If some actions that could perfectly fit in a sub menu in a desktop application do not fit in a view menu, consider creating a new sub view that will contain the commands that don't fit in the view menu.
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The less menu items, the better. This is important not only because there are a limited number of items allowed within Hildon, but also because it is good practice to limit the amount of menu items a user is forced to navigate through to achieve a particular action. Again, if some other widget can perform an action within the application's interface, do not include a menu item for it.
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For example, consider a text application that should have a "Format" menu with several sub menus: "Comment Lines", "Remove Lines", "Duplicate Lines", etc. Such is not supported by a Hildon menu, however, a new sub view can be created that will hold buttons to perform the actions intended to be sub menus of "Format". That sub view appears when the user presses the "Format" menu.
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Remember, keep the number of menu items low, add only useful ones. The less menu items, the better. This is important not only due to the limited number of items that a Hildon menu supports but also because of not forcing the user to navigate through a large number of views in order to get the wanted functionality. If a menu item's action can be already performed by some other widget in the interface, do not include a menu for it.
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==Filters==
==Filters==
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Along with typical menu items, filters can also be used within a View Menu. Filters are toggle buttons that can be used for presentation/sorting purposes. For example, sorting a list of contacts alphabetically, or changing the size of icons in a list.
 
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As a general rule, these actions shouldn't change the ''amount'' of data displayed, just ''how'' that data is displayed.
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Along with typical menu items, you can also use filters within a View Menu. Filters are toggle buttons that can be used for presentation/sorting purposes. For example, sorting a list of contacts alphabetically, or changing the size of icons in a list.
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Filters should always be presented in groups. Because of this, there should always be at least two menu filters (e.g., a menu filter that will sort a list of email messages alphabetically and one that will sort them by date -- not just one filter for alphabetical sorting).
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As a general rule, these actions should not change the amount of data displayed, just how that data is displayed.
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Always present filters in groups. There should always be at least two menu filters (for example, a menu filter that sorts a list of email messages alphabetically and one that sorts them by date -- not just one filter for alphabetical sorting).
==Menu Keyboard Shortcuts==
==Menu Keyboard Shortcuts==
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Sometimes it makes sense to add keyboard shortcuts to some actions that can also be performed via the View Menu.
Sometimes it makes sense to add keyboard shortcuts to some actions that can also be performed via the View Menu.
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If the shortcut will perform a common action like creating something new, formatting the text as bold, or undoing a previous action, take care in utilizing common shortcuts that are generally used in other applications. For example, the previous mentioned actions would be Ctrl+n, Ctrl+b, and Ctrl+z, respectively.
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If the shortcut performs a common action like creating something new, formatting the text as bold, or undoing a previous action, take care in utilizing common shortcuts that are generally used in other applications. For example, the previous mentioned actions are Ctrl+n, Ctrl+b, and Ctrl+z, respectively.
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==Unavailable Menu Items==
==Unavailable Menu Items==
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Even though it is a common and useful practice ''in desktop applications'' to make certain menu items unavailable (i.e., "dimmed"), when their actions are not available, Hildon takes a different approach: the menu items should not be visible at all. Although dimmed menu items suggest actions that are unavailable, they can cramp menu space on the small screen and make interaction with available menu items more confusing.
 
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[[Image:view_menu_wrong.png|400px]]
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Even though it is a common and useful practice in desktop applications to make certain menu items unavailable (for example, "dimmed"), when their actions are not available, Hildon takes a different approach: the menu items must not be visible at all. Although dimmed menu items suggest actions that are unavailable, they can cramp menu space on the small screen and make interaction with available menu items more confusing.  
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''Figure 9: An incorrect view menu''
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[[Image:view_menu_wrong.png|frame|center|alt=Screenshot of incorrect view menu|Figure 9: An incorrect view menu]]

Latest revision as of 14:06, 31 January 2011

Image:Ambox_content.png
 This article is legacy documentation, and is superseded by Forum Nokia documentation.
The Forum Nokia documentation is available as the Hildon 2.2 UI style guide, Fremantle master layout guide and the Hildon 2.2 widget UI specification

The View Menu does not have a traditional menu bar like desktop application menus have. The user activates the View Menu by pressing the application's title area.

The View Menu can hold up to ten menu items and can be divided into two columns -- or one column when in portrait orientation. The View Menu can also include filters. As with selectable items within window views, menu items are in fact buttons, and have no submenus.

Screenshot of view menu
Figure 8: A view menu

Place menu items that perform similar actions ("Previous" and "Next", for example) side by side within a View Menu, and place the most important menu items on the top of the view.

Do not repeat actions that are available from other locations within the application (either in the onscreen interface or via a hardware key) in a menu view.

The View Menu must differ depending on the current view in the application. For example, if users are viewing the "Inbox" subview of an email application, they should access the view menu of the "Inbox" and not the view menu of the root view.

Contents

[edit] What if more menus are needed?

Follow the principles stated in section 1.8, "Hildonizing an Interface," to keep the interface simple yet functional.

Avoid any use of submenus beyond what fits in the 10 menu item slots in the View menu. Even just removing those menu commands that do not fit, should be considered.

The fallback way to support additional menu items (in corner cases) is to have an menu item in the view menu that opens a dialog. That dialog has the action area removed, and contains a dialog wide grid of command buttons in two columns. Visually this is quite similar to the view menu itself.

The less menu items, the better. This is important not only because there are a limited number of items allowed within Hildon, but also because it is good practice to limit the amount of menu items a user is forced to navigate through to achieve a particular action. Again, if some other widget can perform an action within the application's interface, do not include a menu item for it.

[edit] Filters

Along with typical menu items, you can also use filters within a View Menu. Filters are toggle buttons that can be used for presentation/sorting purposes. For example, sorting a list of contacts alphabetically, or changing the size of icons in a list.

As a general rule, these actions should not change the amount of data displayed, just how that data is displayed.

Always present filters in groups. There should always be at least two menu filters (for example, a menu filter that sorts a list of email messages alphabetically and one that sorts them by date -- not just one filter for alphabetical sorting).

[edit] Menu Keyboard Shortcuts

Sometimes it makes sense to add keyboard shortcuts to some actions that can also be performed via the View Menu.

If the shortcut performs a common action like creating something new, formatting the text as bold, or undoing a previous action, take care in utilizing common shortcuts that are generally used in other applications. For example, the previous mentioned actions are Ctrl+n, Ctrl+b, and Ctrl+z, respectively.

[edit] Unavailable Menu Items

Even though it is a common and useful practice in desktop applications to make certain menu items unavailable (for example, "dimmed"), when their actions are not available, Hildon takes a different approach: the menu items must not be visible at all. Although dimmed menu items suggest actions that are unavailable, they can cramp menu space on the small screen and make interaction with available menu items more confusing.

Screenshot of incorrect view menu
Figure 9: An incorrect view menu
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