CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Preface

  1      Designing Dialog Boxes
    1.1 Determining the Type and Placement of a Dialog Box
      1.1.1      Types of Dialog Boxes
      1.1.2      Placing Dialog Boxes
        1.1.2.1      Placing a Single Dialog Box
        1.1.2.2      Nesting Multiple Dialog Boxes
    1.2 Using Window Decorations
      1.2.1      Titles in Dialog Boxes
      1.2.2      Resizing Dialog Boxes
    1.3 Creating Push Buttons
      1.3.1      Default Push Button
      1.3.2      Cancel Button
      1.3.3      Labels in Push Buttons
      1.3.4      Push-Button Arrangement
        1.3.4.1      Horizontal Push-Button Arrangement
        1.3.4.2      Vertical Push-Button Arrangement
      1.3.5      Push-Button Dimensions
      1.3.6      Help Push Button
    1.4 Using Standard Message Dialog Boxes
      1.4.1      Question Dialog Box
      1.4.2      Error Dialog Box
      1.4.3      Information Dialog Box
      1.4.4      Warning Dialog Box
      1.4.5      Working Dialog Boxes
    1.5 Creating a Logical and Appealing Layout of Controls
      1.5.1      Group Related Choices Graphically
      1.5.2      When to Avoid Using Punctuation in Dialog Boxes
      1.5.3      Keep Dialog Boxes Simple
      1.5.4      Use Uniform Spacing Within the Dialog Box
      1.5.5      Align Labels and Text Fields
      1.5.6      Promote Scanning from Left to Right, Top to Bottom
        1.5.6.1      Use the Top Left Corner
        1.5.6.2      Present Related Controls in a Clearly Visible Series
        1.5.6.3      Clarify Structure
        1.5.6.4      Provide Appropriate Defaults
        1.5.6.5      Use Option Buttons to Conserve Space
        1.5.6.6      Initializing Values in Dialog Boxes
        1.5.6.7      Provide a Variety of Selection Controls
      1.5.7      Creating Tab Groups
        1.5.7.1      Navigating Between Tab Groups
        1.5.7.2      Navigating Within Tab Groups
    1.6 Presenting Text in Dialog Boxes and Other Screen Objects
    1.7 Creating Title Bars
    1.8 Using the Working Dialog Box and the Wait Cursor

  2      Designing Menus and Menu Items
    2.1 Naming Menus and Menu Items
    2.2 Organizing Menus and Menu Items
    2.3 Using Ellipses in Menu Items
    2.4 Disabling Menu Items
    2.5 Designing Pop-up Menus
      2.5.1      Characteristics to Give to Pop-up Menus
      2.5.2      Determining the Actions of Pop-up Menus
      2.5.3      Choosing Between a Pop-up Menu or a Control Panel
      2.5.4      Designing Pop-up Menus with Submenus
    2.6 Designing Tear-off Menus
    2.7 Items in the File Menu
    2.8 Items in the Selected Menu
    2.9 Items in the Edit Menu
    2.10 Items in the View Menu
    2.11 Items in the Options Menu
    2.12 Items in the Help Menu
    2.13 Items in the Windows Menu

  3      Customizing the Interface
    3.1 General Guidelines for Providing Customization Features
    3.2 Designing Options Menu Items and Dialog Boxes
      3.2.1      Adding Command Menu Items
      3.2.2      Adding Dialog Boxes
    3.3 Guidelines for Customizing Windows, Color, and Text
      3.3.1      Window Positions and Sizes
      3.3.2      Colors
      3.3.3      Size and Rendition of Text

  4      Using Color
    4.1 Why Use Color?
    4.2 General Guidelines and Specific Recommendations
      4.2.1      Before You Select Colors
      4.2.2      After You Select the Colors
    4.3 Using Digital's Color Mixing Widget

  5      Designing Help
    5.1 Methods of Accessing Help
      5.1.1      Help Pull-Down Menu
      5.1.2      Help Command
      5.1.3      Help Push Button
      5.1.4      Help Key
    5.2 Guidelines for Designing and Writing Online Help
      5.2.1      Planning Help Topics
        5.2.1.1      Organizing Help Topics
        5.2.1.2      Writing Help Topics
      5.2.2      Remember Translation
    5.3 Digital Tools for Creating Online Help
      5.3.1      Using Digital's Help Widget
        5.3.1.1      Title Bar
        5.3.1.2      Menu Bar
        5.3.1.3      Help Topic
        5.3.1.4      Additional Topics
        5.3.1.5      Push Buttons
      5.3.2      Using the DECwindows Motif Help System

  6      Using Digital-Specific Widgets
    6.1 Using Digital's Print Widget
    6.2 Using the Structured Visual Navigation Widget
      6.2.1      Determining the Components of an Entry
      6.2.2      Designing the Appearance of Your Hierarchy
        6.2.2.1      Showing Icon States
        6.2.2.2      Aligning Entries
        6.2.2.3      Using Fonts Within a Hierarchy
        6.2.2.4      Choosing Selection Modes
        6.2.2.5      Choosing Selection Line Length
      6.2.3      Providing Items in the View Menu

  7      Working with LinkWorks
    7.1 What Is LinkWorks?
    7.2 Deciding What to Support as Linkable Objects
    7.3 Adding the Link Menu
      7.3.1      Standard Link Menu
      7.3.2      Customizing the Link Menu
    7.4 Using Highlighting Techniques
      7.4.1      Guidelines for Highlighting
      7.4.2      Techniques for Highlighting
    7.5 Using Windowing Properly

  A Keyboard and Mouse Bindings for DECwindows Motif
    A.1 Keyboard Bindings
    A.2 Mouse Bindings
    A.3 Standard Accelerators

  B Common Motif Terms Translated into European Languages
    B.1 Danish and Dutch Terms
    B.2 Finnish and French Terms
    B.3 German and Italian Terms
    B.4 Norwegian and Portuguese Terms
    B.5 Spanish and Swedish Terms

  C Sources of Further Information
    C.1 Books
    C.2 Periodicals