Section E: Menus in More Detail
Most Windows applications have not only a menu bar, a control menu,
and pull-down menus, but may also have further menus called cascading
menus. These are all described in detail in the following sections,
(which follow on from each other in this page, as well as being individual
links within this page).
E 1 Menu Bar (main menu)
All Windows applications are driven from a menu bar, which is accessed
in a standard way. The menu bar (or main menu) is a line of high level
command options in a row across the top of the application window, from
which all operations are initiated (eg File, Edit, View, Format, Help).
As Windows applications are written to guidelines, most menu bars will
look fairly similar in terms of the sorts of options on it, and their
order, but the options will obviously be highly specific to the application.
E 2 Short-Cut Keys
Many options in menus have short-cut keys, which allow you to choose
an item quickly from a menu with a single key press, for example, Alt+H
for Help. These short-cut keys are indicated by underlined characters,
so H on the item Help would be underlined, and would open the pull-down
menu from the Help option. In addition, some commands can be accessed
with single key-presses - for example Alt+F4 will close the active application
directly, bypassing the File menu (by choosing File, then Exit). In
pull-down menus, options usually have an underlined character, but these
are used without the Alt key. In dialogue boxes, each element has an
underlined character but requires the Alt key to be pressed at the same
time.
E 3 Accessing the Menu Bar
Windows applications are written to the same guidelines, so, (in principle)
most applications should behave like others in terms of executing commands.
Therefore, the menu bar itself is always activated with the Alt key,
which puts a highlight on the first menu item, and then the direction
cursor keys, can be used to move the highlight along the menu bar options
(including the control menu of the application and of any document windows
it has open).
But each option also has its own short-cut key, which not only accesses
the menu bar item, but also opens its pull-down menu. For example, File
is usually Alt+F, and Help is usually Alt+H. If the Alt key was pressed
alone, putting a highlight on the first menu bar item, at this point
you can then access the file menu simply with F, which opens the pull-down
menu from File.
E 4 Pull-Down Menus
Most options on the menu bar of applications have pull-down menus,
which give a list of further choices specific to the menu bar option
chosen. Pull-down menus quite literally are pulled down from the menu
bar option, so appear on the screen directly under the menu bar option
you selected. (For example, File on the menu bar usually leads to a
pull-down menu containing at least: Open, Save, Print, Exit).
By default, when the pull-down menu is opened, the first item on it
is highlighted. Items are chosen from pull-down menus by using the up
and down direction cursor keys to move the highlight up and down the
list of options, and then pressing Return. But they also have short-cut
keys, and these are also underlined: however, in contrast to the menu
bar, in pull-down menus, you do not need to press the Alt key, just
press the underlined letter. In fact, pressing the Alt key when in pull-down
menus cancels all menu activation, so take care!
Sometimes, an item on a pull-down menu can simply be on or off, and
this will be indicated by a tick to the left of the item on the menu.
It's short-cut key can be used to turn this tick on and off. (For example,
in Program Manager you have an item under "Options" called
"Save Settings On Exit" and if this is ticked, it will save
the layout of the application, and if not, it defaults back to the original
layout next time you start Windows).
Selection of an option from a pull-down menu option usually leads to
one of three things: 1. execution of the selected function, (eg Exit),
2. a dialogue box requesting more information or confirmation, or 3.
another sub-menu.
If you are in a pull-down menu, and you press the left or right direction
cursor keys, you will move into the next pull-down menu from the menu
bar. The only occasion when this action will take you into another pull-down
menu is if the item has 3 dots after it indicating that there are more
options leading from this. These are cascading menus, see Section E
5.
E 5 Cascading Menus
Sub-menus that are invoked from pull-down menus are known as cascading
menus. Options on pull-down menus which lead to cascading menus are
indicated by 3 dots after the option name. For example: "Save...."
Pressing return at this point, or pressing the right arrow key, to follow
this link opens a cascading menu which appears to the right of the selection
option, offering a vertical list of further options.
A simple word processor like Notepad might only have a menu bar, one
level of pull-down menus, and then an execution level or a dialogue
box, but a complex application like Word for Windows may have several
levels of menus and a dialogue box, before reaching the execution level.
E 6 Canceling Menu Activation
To cancel activation of the current level of menu, press the Esc key.
This action returns you to the previous level of menu, or will cancel
the menu bar activation, if no other menus are currently displayed.
Pressing Alt at any level of menu activation closes all menu activation.
E 7 Disabled Menu Items
Sometimes, some items in pull-down menus are not available at the current
time. These items are termed "disabled", and are in grey type,
rather than in black. This is to prevent us from trying to perform inappropriate
operations on our data.
Forward
to Section F
Back
to Section D
Back to Windows Concepts home
Back to Books
Back to WinGuide home
