The Menu Bar

The menu bar is a menu which, in conjunction with its associated pulldown menus, enables the user to select an action from a list of valid actions, to be applied to a selected object or group of objects displayed in a window. The following guidelines should be followed in the design and layout of the menu bar, for the purpose of consistency and ergonomic behavior:

  • A menu bar is not required for fewer than six actions, unless these are actions specifically defined by CUA.

  • The number of entries within an menu bar should be kept to a minimum; it is better to have a "deep" pulldown menu with many choices than to have a "broad" menu bar. This reduces the number of options displayed to the user at any one time.

  • A menu bar must have a pulldown menu associated with it.

  • A pulldown menu item always represents an action, and therefore should always be a verb.

  • Where selection of a menu bar entry results in the display of a pulldown menu, the menu bar entry should indicate the generic nature of the group of actions contained in the pulldown menu. If these actions pertain to a particular object or object class, the name of the object or class may be used as part of the menu bar entry. In such a case, the menu bar entry may be either a verb or a noun.

  • If multiple distinct groups of actions, pertaining to a single object or class, are contained within the same pulldown menu, they should be separated by a horizontal separator bar within the pulldown menu.

  • A pulldown menu item that when selected, results in the display of a dialog box, should have its text succeeded in the pulldown menu by an ellipsis (...) to indicate that the dialog continues.

    The SAA CUA guidelines stipulate that each standard window has a menu bar, which contains actions specific to the object represented by that window. However, certain actions may be inapplicable at certain points during application execution. If an action is not necessarily applicable at all stages of processing or for all data objects displayed within a window, that action should remain in the menu bar or pulldown menu, but should be disabled (that is, made non-selectable) until the point at which the action is valid.

    Selection of a valid menu bar or pulldown menu item should result in the immediate performance of the action, or the display of a dialog box to obtain necessary information before performance of the requested action may take place. Selection of an invalid menu bar or pulldown menu item will result in a "beep" and the continued display of the pulldown. The menu bar and pulldown menus are discussed in the IBM Systems Application Architecture CUA Advanced Guide to User Interface Design and the IBM Systems Application Architecture CUA Advanced Interface Design Reference.

    Presentation Manager provides mechanisms to achieve the insertion/deletion and enabling/disabling of menu bar items, as explained in the following sections.

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