GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 335108
Errors in use of ellipsis (...) in menu items
Last modified: 2009-01-01 15:41:37 UTC
Version 2.12.1, Ubuntu 5.10 Some gedit menu items do not follow the HIG guidelines on using ellipses <http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/2.0/menus-design.html#menu-item-type-command>. * "Page Setup..." does not have an ellipsis and should. The usual goal when selecting this item is changing the page setup, and that does not happen without further input. * "Print Preview" has an ellipsis and should not. The usual goal when selecting this item is viewing the print preview, and it is displayed as soon as the command is selected. (The "Print Preview" button in the Print dialog correctly does not have an ellipsis.) * "Check Spelling..." does not have an ellipsis and should. The usual goal when selecting this item is to correct misspellings, and that does not happen without further input. * "Set Language..." does not have an ellipsis and should. The usual goal when selecting this item is to change the language of the document, and that does not happen without further input.
Thanks for the report. "Set Language..." and "Print Preview" are fixed in 2.14 We'll fix the others when we branch (since it breaks string freeze). Though I'll double check the old ui-review logs to see if there was a reason why we had the current version. "Check Spelling" in particular looks a big weird to me with the ellipsis: the action itself is "start to check the spelling of the document" and it doesn't require any further input, the dialog is popped up only when a misspelled word is found, not as a direct consequence of activating the menu item.
Thanks for the prompt response! I think the desired action for "Check Spelling" isn't to start checking the spelling, it's to correct any misspellings. (It's very rare to want to check for misspellings *without* correcting them.) If there are no misspellings, that's just a bonus. You could rename the item to "Start Checking Spelling", but I think it would make more sense to treat it as a complete process which the user expects will require further input.
"Page Setup" is fixed too. Only "Check Spelling" needs to be fixed, but as pbor said, I'm not sure it needs ellipsis. Usability guys: any suggestion?
Actually, reading the guidelines, it seems "Page Setup" does not require ellipsis. "Label the menu item with a trailing ellipsis ("...") only if the command requires further input from the user before it can be performed. Do not add an ellipsis to items that only present a confirmation dialog (such as Delete), or that do not require further input (such as Properties, Preferences or About)." Isn't "Page Setup" just like "Preferences"? What about "Set Language", "External Tools" and "Manage Snippets"?
"Set Language" and "Manage Snippets" both sound like actions that will require further input, so I would say their existing ellipsis is correct. "External Tools" is basically a Preferences window though, so I would say no ellipsis required. "Page Setup" is a bit of an inbetweeny one, but on balance I agree with mpt that the ellipsis is correct.
Calum: what do you think about "Check Spelling" ? that's the only one "controversial"... (for how "controversial" this kind of thing can be)
Agree with mpt on "Check Spelling" too... since it pops up a dialog to correct any mistakes, rather than just highlighting mis-spelled words in the document, I think an ellipsis is justified.
reopening as requested information has been provided.
This problem has been fixed in the development version. The fix will be available in the next major software release. Thank you for your bug report.