Common Desktop Environment: Style Guide and Certification Checklist

Component Activation

The following guidelines have been provided to clarify double-click timing and mnemonics, to explain changes in activation of specific components, and explain behaviors of components that are new in CDE Motif.

Basic Activation

Required 

x: 

The time allowed to detect a double click (*doubleClickTime: 500) should be no less than 500 milliseconds. 

Mnemonics

Required 

y: 

Mnemonic characters must be chosen for ease-of-location within the text of a label. Wherever possible, use the first character of the label. If that is not possible, try to use the last character of the label, or if there is more than one word, the first character of the second word. After that, go through the label from the second character on until a unique mnemonic is found. 

CheckButton

Required 

7-1: 

Your application uses check buttons to select settings that are not mutually exclusive. A check button graphically indicates its state with the presence or absence of a check mark. 

A check button is used to select settings that are not mutually exclusive. The user needs to know whether the button is set or not. 

OptionButton

Required 

7-23: 

When the user presses BSelect or BMenu in an option button, the associated option menu is posted. 

BSelect Press is a consistent way of activating an option button. 

Required 

7-24: 

When the user releases BSelect or BMenu within the same option button that the press occurred in, the associated option menu is posted if it was not posted at the time of the press. When the user releases BSelect or BMenu outside of the option button, the associated option menu is unposted. 

BSelect Release or BMenu Release posts or unposts an option menu, depending on whether the release occurs inside the option button and whether the option menu was posted at the time of the press. 

Gauge

Required 

ib: 

A gauge is similar to a scale except that a gauge is a display-only device with no user interactions. The appearance of a gauge is similar to a scale, but the gauge lacks a scale slider. 

Optional 

ic: 

Despite being a display-only device, a gauge should get keyboard focus so that the user can access Help or Settings for that control.