Guidelines:Context Menu
From KDE-HIG_Wiki
Contextual menus provide easy access to frequently used commands associated with an interface object. They offer only items that are applicable or relevant to the object or region at the location of the focus or the pointer. The appearance of contextual menus is similar to that of drop-down menus, including the display of accelerator keys and keyboard shortcuts, but they do not have a menu title.
A contextual menu appears when the user right-clicks an object, or focuses the object and presses Shift+F10.
Guidelines
- Provide a contextual menu for every object, selectable part, and text input target such as entry fields.
- Every item which is displayed in the contextual menu must also be provided in the menu.
- Provide accelerator keys for every item in the contextual menu (see section Keyboard Accelerators).
- Avoid more than ten items in a contextual menu, and avoid submenus.
- Organize items in a contextual menu in the expected frequency-of-use order, considering the guidelines for grouping items (see section Grouping Items in Menus). If existent, provide the double-click action for the object on the first position
Rationale
To maximize their efficieny, contextual menus need to be as simple as possible. All relevant commands and settings must be transparent and identifiable at first glance. Therefore, the number must not exceed a certain limit, and submenus are not advizable.
