Sjoerd Visscher wrote:
>
> > > - 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 disagree, but rather than try to explain why - a long, tedious effort
which might well go to waste - I'll simply point you at the relevant
interface guidelines, and assume that you know what "user interaction"
is. Keep reading them until you realize that you're wrong.
> 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.
And do you have any evidence that Mozilla overuses them?
-Xplo
