31629 - Popup menus shouldn't look like text widgets

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: XUL, defect, P3)

Description

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

THE PROBLEM

The current default appearance for XP Toolkit popup menus is an inset white 
rectangle, followed by an outset triangle `button'.

Instead, a popup menu should appear as a single raised bar, with a menu symbol at 
one end (such as a triangle, a pair of triangles, or a bullet).

... You want the short reason, or the long reason?

THE LONG REASON

There are two main visual metaphors used in interface toolkits for adding 3-D 
appearance to checkboxes, radio buttons, and popup menus.

(1) These widgets are form elements; so they appear as `holes' to be `filled in'
    with data (check marks, radio bullets, or menu selection). Used by: Win32.

(2) These widgets are objects for which the only action is clicking (and in some
    cases dragging); so they appear as clickable objects raised from the page.
    Used by: MacOS, GTK, Motif, Koala, AmigaOS, MUI, Tk ...

The default XPFE appearance has gone for the second metaphor -- checkboxes and 
radio buttons are raised from the surface of the interface. However, XP Toolkit 
popup menus are currently inconsistent with this choice: they are shown inset. 
This internal inconsistency makes the toolkit look more amateurish.

THE SHORT REASON

See URL. Drawing a popup menu as an inset white rectangle makes it look 
unnecessarily similar to a text entry widget. A user should be able to expect 
that if they click in an inset white rectangle they will get a cursor, not a 
popup.

Comment 1

[Peter Trudelle]

cc'ing ben and german for input.

Comment 2

[Peter Trudelle]

I agree, but this is a design issue rather than an XPToolkit defect.
reassigning to ben for triage.

Comment 3

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

no longer using html:select, marking invalid. 

Comment 4

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Looks fixed (rather than invalid) to me ... MacOS build 2000042808.