Apple 2 manual Check Marks, Icons, Item Names

C H A P T E R 4

Pickers

A list picker does not include a title because the picker’s context should make its purpose clear. The picker may contain scroll arrows, a Close box, and other controls as described in “Using a List Picker” on page 4-9.

Check Marks

A check mark (✔) has special meaning in a list picker. In a picker that lists attributes, values, or states, a check mark indicates which picker item is in effect. A check mark is not used in a list of commands because no command is in effect until the user picks one. Also, check marks are not shown for picker items with an icon.

Icons

Icons are completely optional in list pickers; in fact, there are several reasons to avoid them. Use icons to clarify and distinguish the wording of picker items, but not purely for decoration. For a discussion of the pros and cons of icons in list pickers, see “Icons in a Picker” on page 5-12.

Item Names

In a list picker, use one word for item names when possible, and capitalize it. When you must use more than one word, you should generally capitalize just the first word. You can capitalize differently if it makes sense in a particular context. For example, the items in the Date Book’s Show picker are titles of views and are capitalized like book titles. If the text of a picker item ends a sentence begun by a picker label, you should capitalize the label like a sentence and not capitalize the picker items at all (except for proper nouns). The Find slip’s Look For picker is an example of sentence capitalization.

Avoid punctuation and symbols in list pickers. Except for very common symbols such as an ampersand (&), users find symbols ambiguous. In parti- cular, do not put an ellipsis (...) at the end of a picker item that will bring up a slip. Unlike menus on personal computers, Newton pickers do not use an ellipsis or any other symbol to indicate a command that will need more information from the user.

List Pickers 4-3