> > - User can start doing what the command-item describes right away: no
> > ellipsis
> > (edit preferences)
> > - User cannot start doing what the command-item describes right away:
> > ellipsis
> > (open,save,print)
>
> This semantic swordplay is all irrelevant. I select the menuitem, it
> gives me a dialog to be manipulated before I can return to what I was
> doing, therefore the menuitem must have an ellipsis.
>
> Or, to put it another way, the negative-space argument: since selecting
> the menuitem does NOT have an immediate effect on the application,
> requiring no further interaction, it CANNOT appear without an ellipsis.
>
> That's all there is to it, people. You're not "changing" or "editing" or
> "starting to edit" something, you're breaking the workflow to require
> user interaction, and that means you put an ellipsis. End of story.
No, breaking the workflow has nothing to do with this.
I'll try to explain why I think ellipsi (?) were introduced:
Menu items very shortly describe what is going to happen.
It was noticed that users were afraid to select these menu items.
If you have a menu item "Print", people are afraid the program will start
printing right away, and possibly incorrect. That's why they added
an ellipsis: "Don't be afriad, click here, there will be plenty of options
to tell me what to do exactly."
So an ellipsis should be used not too often, only for the comfort of
the user. If you use them too much, then it won't work anymore.
Sjoerd
