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Subject:Contextual toolbars From:"Geoff Hart (by way of \"Eric J. Ray\" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>)" <ght -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Fri, 31 Jul 1998 07:04:48 -0600
Right after I replied to David O'Brien, I noted that I missed the
real question. Blame it on the coffee (which hasn't kicked in yet!)
and an overly quick trigger finger. Sorry.
I guess the real answer to your question is that calling them
anything more than "toolbars" really doesn't help an audience of
users; administrators or programmers might benefit from further
elaboration by calling them "modal toolbars" (e.g., if there are
different "graphics" and "text" modes), but I think "contextual
toolbars" is the easiest to understand and most direct description.
Personally, from the user perspective, I don't want to read any of
this semantic gamesmanship: just tell me in straight English that the
toolbar changes when you change modes, tasks, modules, screens, etc.,
and explain the nature of the change (e.g., "The toolbars will
change to reflect what you're doing; for example, the text tools are
no longer available when you're using the drawing module".).
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it
means."--Inigo Montoya
