File Menu

Figure 4-61 A File menu

New

Figure 4-62 The New command

Open

Figure 4-63 The standard file dialog box for opening files

The user can browse through all levels of the file system from the desktop down through nested folders, and back to the desktop. The Eject button allows the user to eject any removable media such as a 3.5-inch disk or a CD-ROM disc. The Eject button is disabled when there are no removable media selected. The Desktop button allows the user to go immediately to the top level of the hierarchy. The Desktop button is disabled when the user is looking at that level, as shown in Figure 4-63.

When the user chooses Open while running an application, the standard file dialog box displays all documents that the application can open. The standard file dialog box displays all documents, folders, and storage devices that are available. When the user selects a document and clicks the Open button
or double-clicks a document name, the application opens the document.

When an application starts up by putting an empty, untitled document on the screen, the Open command remains enabled even if the application allows only one open document at a time. In this case, choosing Open from the
File menu displays an alert box that informs the user that only one window can be open at a time and asks if it's OK to close the current window. If the user clicks OK, close an empty document or display the save changes alert box for a document with contents; then open the document the user selected. If the user clicks Cancel, the current document remains on the screen in the state it was in before the user chose the Open command.

Note that you shouldn't set a maximum number of documents that your application can open. You should base the limit on the amount of available memory at any given time.

Close

When the user chooses the Close command, and the active document has been changed since the last save, display the standard save changes alert box. This alert box is designed to prevent users from accidentally losing data. The standard appearance and layout of the alert box help users quickly identify a potentially dangerous situation. For information about the layout of items in alert boxes, see "Basic Dialog Box Layout," which begins on page 193 in Chapter 6, "Dialog Boxes."

Use the caution alert box, which includes the caution icon in the upper-left corner. This icon indicates to users that they need to carefully consider the alert box message before clicking the default button or pressing the Return key. The caution icon should always be in the same, predictable location so that users easily recognize it as a warning and understand its meaning.

The button names in the save changes alert box correlate to the action users perform by pressing the button. The buttons read Save, Don't Save, and Cancel. Using these verbs reinforces the identity of each possible action to the user. In other words, Don't Save provides much more context for the user than No does.

In order to prevent accidental clicks of the wrong button, you should
always keep safe buttons apart from buttons that could cause data loss. Standardizing the location of buttons in a safe configuration provides an additional safeguard for the user. Place the Save button in the lower-right corner with the Cancel button to its left. Place the Don't Save button left-aligned with the message text. Make the Save button the one that is linked to the Return or Enter key. This way, the user is less likely to accidentally click the Don't Save button and cause irretrievable loss of data. Figure 4-64 shows an example of a standard save changes alert box.

Figure 4-64 The save changes alert box

Include the name of your application and the name of the document in
the alert box message, as shown in Figure 4-64. When a user chooses the
Close command, the message should read, "Save changes to the . . . document . . . before closing?" This wording should change to "Save changes to the . . . document . . . before quitting?" if the alert box appears as a result of the
Shut Down command or the Quit command. When a user shuts down the computer, several save changes alert boxes may appear if there are several open, unsaved documents on the desktop. The addition of contextual information to the message helps the user by identifying to which
application and document the message refers.

When you display the save changes alert box, center it horizontally either on the screen or over the active window if the window is on a large screen. Figure 4-65 shows the correct placement of the alert box on three common sizes of screens.

Figure 4-65 The correct location of the save changes alert box

Save

Figure 4-66 The Save command

The document remains open. Provide feedback to the user that the document is being saved. Use the animated watch cursor if the save takes approximately one or two seconds. If the operation takes much longer, display a status bar or other message box.

If the user chooses Save for a new untitled document (one that the user hasn't saved yet), display the Save As dialog box described in the next section.

If there's not enough room on the selected disk to save the document, display a caution alert box that says so and suggest that the user can use Save As instead to save the document on another disk. Don't destroy the document just because the current disk is full. Figure 4-67 shows a sample alert box for this case.

Figure 4-67 A sample alert box to use when a disk is full

Save As

Figure 4-68 The Save As command and dialog box

The Save As dialog box allows the user to provide a name for the document and to choose where it will be saved. Leave the document open and active.

When the user opens a document, makes changes to it, and then chooses
Save As, don't change the original document. Save the changed version of the document under the new name. The active document is no longer the one
the user opened, but rather the new one with the new name.

If the user uses the Save As command to make a new copy of a document, and made no changes to the original document, create a second document exactly like the first one. The user now has two identical documents with different names.

If your application supports stationery, include a Stationery option in the
Save As dialog box. A stationery pad is a template of the original document with whatever information it contains. When a user opens a stationery document, open a copy of the template with the name untitled. When the user saves that document, display the Save As dialog box so that the user can name it.

Don't use the Save a Copy command in your application. People may not understand the distinction between the Save As command and the Save a Copy command.

Revert

Page Setup...

Figure 4-70 A Page Setup dialog box

Print...

If the user has not selected a printer in the Chooser, display a dialog box when the user chooses the Print command. This dialog box should alert the user
of the situation and direct the user to the Chooser to select a printer.

If a document is printed from the Finder, the document is opened and the Print dialog box is displayed. If the application is launched for the purpose of printing the document, the application quits after the printing is complete or canceled. If the application is already running, the application remains active after the printing is complete. This behavior occurs so that the application remains in the same state after printing a document as before the printing
was initiated.

Figure 4-71 A Print dialog box

If you find it necessary to add items to the Print dialog box, do so at the bottom of the dialog box. For more information on printing, see the appropriate book in Inside Macintosh.

Quit