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I have a simple question.

I have a lot of menuitems and buttons in my application. I try to remember to add ... in the caption to indicate that a modal dialog is followed.

But should I also add those dots for a non modal dialog. I try to search in Google but cannot find any clear answer. I use Win32 and Delphi.

Regards

Roland Bengtsson
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2 Answers2

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The ... implies that some further input is required to complete the action of the menu item.

So, "Save" means that the menu item will cause the document to save, whereas "Save..." implies that the user will need to enter the name, or choose a file format or something before the file will be saved.

Typically the further input is entered in a popup modal dialog, but (a) not every modal dialog is a prompt for further information, and (b) hypothetically some other input mechanism could be used.

The '...' implies that the user will be given the opportunity to back-out of the operation.

This was in a user interface guideline book I read back in 1995, I can't seem to find a definitive confirmation online anymore.

Chris Becke
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    +1. It's all about the name of the action and whether it happens as soon as you click it. If the action is called "Open Foo Window" and selecting it opens the Foo window then it shouldn't have the "...", unless it asks you a question before opening the Foo window. – Leo Davidson Dec 13 '10 at 10:26
  • Thanks, i think that was a good definition of ... "some further input is required to complete the action". – Roland Bengtsson Dec 13 '10 at 19:41
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I'd say that this depends strongly on your personal taste. I add ... whenever any new window is opened, be it modal or non-modal, to indicate to the user that he has to expect some other window to appear.

My guess is that there should be some Microsoft UI Guidelines document about that, but neither have I ever looked for something like that nor do I know of one.

Thorsten Dittmar
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  • Upvoters: **This is not correct, according to [Microsoft's UX Guidelines](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511502.aspx#ellipses).** Just because a menu item displays a new window does *not* mean it should be followed by ellipses. Ellipses should *only* be used to indicate that additional information is required. – Cody Gray - on strike Dec 13 '10 at 08:22
  • Thanks for pointing that out. Good to see Microsoft aren't following their own guidelines. In Outlook 2007 "Edit > Office Clipboard" opens a docked window, but does not require any additional inputs. ;-) – Thorsten Dittmar Dec 13 '10 at 08:44
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    It's hardly unusual for Microsoft to break their own guidelines. The more recent versions of VS have finally removed the ellipsis after the "About" menu item that has always been the example of where an ellipsis *doesn't* belong. Of course, that Microsoft fails to follow them consistently doesn't necessarily imply that we shouldn't try to follow them either... :-) – Cody Gray - on strike Dec 13 '10 at 08:52
  • @Cody - I still think the answer is correct. The document you referred hints if there's no immediate action there should be ellipses.. And if a window is displayed, that generally means user input is required, although the user might choose not to change default values.. – Sertac Akyuz Dec 13 '10 at 11:29
  • @Sertac: I don't know where you're reading these "hints" from the document. I think this paragraph is pretty explicit: "This doesn't mean you should use an ellipsis whenever an action displays another window—only when additional information is required to perform the action. For example, the commands About, Advanced, Help, Options, Properties, and Settings must display another window when clicked, but don't require additional information from the user. Therefore they don't need ellipses." About is a dialog, yet it doesn't have any settings to change, thus answer disproven even by your logic. – Cody Gray - on strike Dec 13 '10 at 11:37
  • @Cody - I was referring the "while menu commands are used for immediate actions" definition. But you're right as for the rest. I see that 'About', 'Properties' shouldn't have ellipsis as there can be no user input there. But I'm surprised MS regarding 'Settings', 'Options' windows requiring no user input, what the heck they're displayed for? Am I completely off track here? – Sertac Akyuz Dec 13 '10 at 11:51
  • @Sertac: Perhaps the best way to explain it is that the Options or Settings dialog box itself is what's supposed to *happen* when you click that menu option. It appears; no extra input required. By contrast, when you click Print or Save, what's supposed to *happen* is that the document gets printed or saved, but that *doesn't* actually happen until *after* the user provides the information needed to perform that action in an additional dialog. The ellipses rule is more about the end result of the menu item, rather than whether or not it shows a dialog. Does that make sense? – Cody Gray - on strike Dec 14 '10 at 03:34
  • @Cody - Thanks, I finally got it. :) – Sertac Akyuz Dec 14 '10 at 09:53