Openstep User Interface Guidelines
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OpenStep User Interface Guidelines 2550 Garcia Avenue Mountain View, CA 94043 U.S.A. Part No: 802-2109-10 A Sun Microsystems, Inc. Business Revision A, September 1996 1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 2550 Garcia Avenue, Mountain View, California 94043-1100 U.S.A. All rights reserved. Portions Copyright 1995 NeXT Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. This product or document is protected by copyright and distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying, distribution, and decompilation. No part of this product or document may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of Sun and its licensors, if any. Portions of this product may be derived from the UNIX® system, licensed from UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Novell, Inc., and from the Berkeley 4.3 BSD system, licensed from the University of California. Third-party font software, including font technology in this product, is protected by copyright and licensed from Sun's suppliers. This product incorporates technology licensed from Object Design, Inc. RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and FAR 52.227-19. The product described in this manual may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending applications. TRADEMARKS Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, SunSoft, the SunSoft logo, Solaris, SunOS, and OpenWindows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. OPEN LOOK is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. PostScript and Display PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. Object Design is a trademark and the Object Design logo is a registered trademark of Object Design, Inc. OpenStep, NeXT, the NeXT logo, NEXTSTEP, the NEXTSTEP logo, Application Kit, Foundation Kit, Project Builder, and Workspace Manager are trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc. Unicode is a trademark of Unicode, Inc. VT100 is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. All other product names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. All SPARC trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SPARCcenter, SPARCcluster, SPARCCompiler, SPARCdesign, SPARC811, SPARCengine, SPARCprinter, SPARCserver, SPARCstation, SPARCstorage, SPARCworks, microSPARC-11, and UltraSPARC are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. The OPEN LOOK® and SunTM Graphical User Interfaces were developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. for its users and licensees. Sun acknowledges the pioneering efforts of Xerox in researching and developing the concept of visual or graphical user interfaces for the computer industry. Sun holds a non-exclusive license from Xerox to the Xerox Graphical User Interface, which license also covers Sun's licensees who implement OPEN LOOK GUIs and otherwise comply with Sun's written license agreements. X Window System is a product of X Consortium, Inc. THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THIS PUBLICATION COULD INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN; THESE CHANGES WILL BE INCORPORATED IN NEW EDITIONS OF THE PUBLICATION. SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED IN THIS PUBLICATION AT ANY TIME. Please Recycle Table of Contents 1. A Visual Guide to the User Interface. 1-1 OpenStep Workspace. 1-1 Types of Windows . 1-3 Standard Windows . 1-3 Panels . 1-4 Menus . 1-6 Miniwindows . 1-7 Application Icons. 1-7 Types of Controls . 1-8 Buttons . 1-9 Text Fields. 1-10 Sliders . 1-11 Color Wells . 1-11 Scrollers. 1-12 Browsers and Selection Lists . 1-13 iii 2. Design Philosophy . 2-1 Basic Principles. 2-2 The Interface Is Natural . 2-2 The User Is in Control . 2-2 Avoiding Modes . 2-3 When You Should Act for the User . 2-3 The Mouse Is the Primary Input Device . 2-4 The Interface Is Consistent . 2-4 Three Action Paradigms . 2-5 Direct Manipulation . 2-5 Targeted Action . 2-5 Modal Tool . 2-6 Paradigm Extensions . 2-8 Testing User Interfaces . 2-8 3. User Actions: The Mouse and Keyboard . 3-1 Mouse Actions . 3-2 Clicking . 3-3 Multiple-Clicking. 3-3 Pressing. 3-4 Dragging . 3-4 Mouse Responsiveness . 3-4 Changing the Functions of the Mouse Buttons . 3-4 Selecting Objects with the Mouse . 3-5 Clicking to Select . 3-6 iv OpenStep User Interface Guidelines—September 1996 Multiple-Clicking to Select . 3-6 Dragging to Select . 3-7 Extending a Selection . 3-7 Continuous Extension . 3-7 Discontinuous Extension. 3-8 How the Arrow Keys Affect a Text Selection . 3-9 Implementing Selection. 3-10 When Discontinuous Selection Is Not Implemented. 3-11 Selection in Text and Selection in Graphics . 3-11 Managing the Pointer . 3-11 Changing the Pointer . 3-12 Hiding the Pointer . 3-12 Mouse Actions for Custom Objects . 3-13 Reacting to Clicks . 3-13 First Click on a Window . 3-14 When Dragging Should Not Imply Clicking . 3-14 When to Use Multiple-Clicking . 3-16 Dragging From a Multiple-Click . 3-16 How to Use Dragging . 3-17 Moving Objects. 3-17 Defining Ranges . 3-17 Sliding From Object to Object. 3-18 When to Use Pressing . 3-19 Using Modifier Keys With the Mouse . 3-19 Table of Contents v Keyboard Actions . 3-20 Modifier Keys. 3-21 Special Command-Key Combinations . 3-23 Other Action Keys . 3-23 Handling Arrow Characters. 3-24 Implementing Keyboard Alternatives. 3-24 Reserved Keyboard Alternatives . 3-25 Required Keyboard Alternatives . 3-26 Recommended Keyboard Alternatives . 3-27 Application-Specific Keyboard Alternatives . 3-28 Choosing the Character . 3-29 Using the Alternate Key . 3-29 When Mouse Operations and Keyboard Alternatives Differ . 3-30 Implementing Modifier Key-Arrow Key Combinations . 3-31 Control-Arrow Combinations . 3-31 Shift-Arrow Combinations . 3-32 Alt-Arrow Combinations . 3-32 Other Arrow Key Combinations . 3-33 4. Windows in the OpenStepInterface . 4-1 How Windows Work . 4-2 Parts of a Window . 4-3 Window Order . 4-4 Window Characteristics . 4-6 vi OpenStep User Interface Guidelines—September 1996 Reordering. 4-6 Moving . 4-6 Resizing . 4-7 Closing and Miniaturizing . 4-7.