When to use ellipsis after menu items

Question

In almost all applications that have a menu bar, some elements have an ellipsis (...) after them, and some do not. Is there a known convention about when to put this ellipsis there and when not? When do you do this? You do it?

I looked at various Windows applications, and this is what I came to:

• Ellipse

  • Menu items that open a form that requires user input in order to do something (Replace, Go, Font)

• No ellipse

  • Menu items that just do something (cut, paste, exit, save)
  • Menu items that open a form that does not require user input (About, Check for Updates)

But there are always menu items that do not follow this rule. For example, help items (like me, search, index) and search and replace (quick search, search in files, search for a character) in Visual Studio.

So, having thought about this a little more, I now think it could be:

• Ellipse

  • Menu items that will necessarily open a modal window.

• Ellipsis

  • Menu items that open a modeless window.
  • Menu items that do not open windows.
  • Menu items that most likely will not open a modal window (for example, Save, which opens a modal window if you have not saved before or something like that, but otherwise)

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

The most important factor is whether the menu option has additional confirmation before it performs the operation. So Help-About does not require ellipsis, but File-Open does. This is what Microsoft, Apple, and KDE recommend anyway.

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Microsoft Windows applications are supposed to follow the Microsoft User Guide . Here's what they say about ellipses on menu items.

While menu commands are used for immediate action, additional information may be required to complete the action. Indicate the desired command with additional information (including confirmation) by adding an ellipsis to the end of the label.

This does not mean that you should use an ellipsis whenever an action is displayed in another window - only when additional information is needed to complete the action. For example, the About, Advanced, Help, Parameters, Properties, and Parameters commands should display a different window when pressed, but do not require additional information from the User. Therefore, they do not need ellipses.

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David's answer refers to the KDE 3 user manual ,

Note that each item in the menu first opens a dialog box that requires additional information to be marked with an ending ellipsis (...) (for example, Save as ..., Open ...). There is no space between the menu item and "...". A simple confirmation dialogue is not considered a dialogue that requires additional information.

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Apple's Human Interface Guides say:

When it appears in a name or menu item, an ellipsis character (...) indicates to the user that additional information is required before the operation can be performed. In particular, it prepares the user to wait for a window or dialog to appear or enter information before the command executes. Since users expect instant action with buttons and menu items (as described in “Buttons” and “Behavior Menu”), it is especially important to prepare them for this alternative behavior by properly displaying the ellipsis. The following recommendations and examples will help you decide when to use the ellipsis in the menu for the names of the elements and buttons.

Answer 2

As far as I understand (...), the final result usually means that the user will be prompted to enter some input. And no (...) means no entry is required.

Answer 3

You are right, this sums it up. If you want to know more, you can find a list of user style guides here: http://www.experiencedynamics.com/science-usability/ui-style-guides

Answer 4

I would agree that it matches my own perception of when to include the ellipsis well enough.

I think that the ellipse point is to “warn” the user, so that she can understand that a certain choice is safe to learn, he will not immediately do something without asking for more information through the dialogue.

In some programs, such as (at least the older version) Autodesk Maya (high-quality 3D modeling package), the ellipsis was actually a small icon dialog. You can click the icon in the menu to get the icon, or click the rest of the menu item (text) to repeat the command with the same settings as the last time, or something like that. It seems that the idea did not catch and did not become the main one.

Answer 5

That's a very difficult question. At first, this might seem obvious, but there are many actions that fall between categories. It is interesting to see that Microsoft itself is violating this practice.

An example from Vista In the Computer Management menu, the Settings file ... has an ellipsis in Computer Management / Users and Groups / Users. Right-click the user. The new user ... the action has an ellipsis, but there is no rename it, although it requires additional steps to actually rename the account. In the menu "Micrsoft SQL Server Management Studio" File, "Print has Properties ..." using Ellipsis.

This is right after 5 minutes of research. There are many more examples.

You can argue about all the agreements for both of these actions. In fact, you cannot change any properties or parameters without doing unnecessary actions in the displayed dialog box, which suggests that you use ellipsis. However, you might just be interested in looking at options or properties that are defined and that assume that ellipsis is not used. Microsoft also admits that there are times when there is ambiguity

"In case of ambiguity (for example, the verb is missing on the command label), decide based on the most likely user action. If just viewing the window is a common action, do not use ellipsis." However, based on this, it would be wiser to have an ellipsis for the parameters and properties, since most likely you want to change a property that just views it.