[whatwg] <menu> and friends

[David Young]

On Fri, Jan 04, 2013 at 03:34:11PM -0800, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 10:17 AM, David Young <dyoung at pobox.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 01:23:20AM +0000, Ian Hickson wrote:
> >> On Sun, 23 Oct 2011, Eric Sh. wrote:
> >> >
> >> > I was trying out the HTML5 context menu in firefox and I saw that there
> >> > is no way(in the specs) to create an empty menu with only selected
> >> > context menu items in it.
> >> >
> >> > So for example if I have an image element and I want to create a context
> >> > menu with the items: "Rotate" and "Share" - I have to ask the browser to
> >> > "Add" them to the regular context menu along with the ten other items
> >> > that are already there.
> >> >
> >> > This makes a bulky context menu when I only need those two items and it
> >> > is especially hurtful for user experience if the context menu is close
> >> > to the bottom of the screen and is moved above the mouse cursor.
> >> >
> >> > I suggest adding a way to ask the browser to create a brand new context
> >> > menu with only those items.
> >>
> >> Not showing the browser's own context menu items is a hurtful user
> >> experience as well; indeed, possibly a worse one.
> >
> > I agree that it's an awful experience, especially because it turns the
> > user's habits against them.  If the Nth item in the menu is ordinarily
> > the UA's "Copy Link Location" and an app removes or re-orders items so
> > that the Nth item changes to "Rotate", "Share", or "Delete," then users
> > are in for a surprise when they make the automatic "Copy Link Location"
> > gesture.
> 
> Gah, strongly agree.  Simple example - I use "Back" constantly in the
> context menu, and would be really pissed if pages could easily kill
> that.  I already get angry when I accidentally right-click a link and
> just select the first option without looking closely.

Ok.  You also write,

> That said, I've got no problem with something like "move all of the
> normal options to a submenu that's the first item in the menu".

... which seems to contradict your strong agreement above?  I.e., it's
ok if the "Back" in the context menu moves to a context submenu?  That's
going to create surprising results for automatic gestures, too.

Dave

-- 
David Young
dyoung at pobox.com    Urbana, IL    (217) 721-9981