When to use ellipsis after menu items

Question

In pretty much all applications that have a menu bar, some of the items have an ellipsis (...) after them, and some don't. Is there a well known convention on when to put that ellipsis there and when not to? When do you do it? Do you do it?

I have looked at various windows applications, and this is what I have come to:

• Ellipsis

  • Menu items which opens a form that require user input to do something (Replace, Go to, Font)

• No ellipsis

  • Menu items which just does something (Cut, Paste, Exit, Save)
  • Menu items which opens a form that does not require user input (About, Check for Updates)

But then there always seems to be menu items that doesn't follow this rule. For example the Help items (How do I, Search, Index) and the Find and Replace (Quick Find, Find in Files, Find Symbol) in Visual Studio.

So after thinking about it a bit more I know think this might be the thing:

• Ellipsis

  • Menu items that will definitely open a modal window.

• No Ellipsis

  • Menu items that opens a non-modal window.
  • Menu items that doesn't open any window.
  • Menu items that most likely won't open a modal window (Like Save, which does open a modal window if you haven't saved before or something like that, but otherwise don't)

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

As far as I understand this, (...) a the end usually means that user will be asked for some input. And no (...) means that no input is needed.

Answer 2

You're right, that about 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 3

Raymond Chen has the answer.

Answer 4

I'd agree, that matches my own perception of when to include the ellipsis fairly well.

I guess the point of the ellipsis is to "warn" the user, so that she can understand that a certain choice is safe to explore, it won't immediately do something without asking for more information through a dialog.

In some programs, like (at least older version of) Autodesk's Maya (a high-end 3D modelling package), the ellipsis was actually a small dialog-icon. You could click the icon, in the menu, to get the icon, or click the rest of the menu item (the text) to repeat the command with the same settings as last time, or something like that. It seems that idea didn't catch on and become mainstream.

Answer 5

According to the KDE 3 user interface guidelines,

Notice that every item in a menu that first opens a dialog requiring additional information must be labelled with a trailing ellipsis (...) (e.g. Save As..., Open...). There's no space between the menu item and the "...". A simple confirmation dialog is not considered a dialog that requires additional information.

So it looks like your discovery is basically correct. Of course, KDE's guidelines are not any sort of universal standard, but they were developed to make KDE behave the way most people expect a window manager (cough Windows cough) to behave, so they're probably pretty similar to the equivalent guidelines used by MS (or, say, Apple).

Answer 6

The crucial factor is whether the menu option requires additional confirmation before it carries out the operation. So Help-About doesn't require an ellipsis, but File-Open does. That's what the Microsoft, Apple and KDE guidelines say anyway.

---

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

While menu commands are used for immediate actions, more information might be needed to perform the action. Indicate a command that needs additional information (including a confirmation) by adding an ellipsis at the end of the label.

This doesn't mean you should use an ellipsis whenever an action displays another window—only when additional information is required to perform the action. For example, the commands About, Advanced, Help, Options, Properties, and Settings must display another window when clicked, but don't require additional information from the user. Therefore they don't need ellipses.

---

David's answer cites the KDE 3 user interface guidelines,

Notice that every item in a menu that first opens a dialog requiring additional information must be labelled with a trailing ellipsis (...) (e.g. Save As..., Open...). There's no space between the menu item and the "...". A simple confirmation dialog is not considered a dialog that requires additional information.

---

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines say:

When it appears in the name of a button or a menu item, an ellipsis character (…) indicates to the user that additional information is required before the associated operation can be performed. Specifically, it prepares the user to expect the appearance of a window or dialog in which to make selections or enter information before the command executes. Because users expect instant action from buttons and menu items (as described in “Buttons” and “Menu Behavior”), it's especially important to prepare them for this alternate behavior by appropriately displaying the ellipsis character. The following guidelines and examples will help you decide when to use an ellipsis in menu item and button names.

Answer 7

This is a very tricky question indeed. At first had it might seem obvious but there are many actions that fall between the categories. It is interesting to see that Microsoft themselves violate this practice.

Example from Vista In Computer Management menu File - Options... has ellipsis In Computer Management / Users and Groups / Users. Right-click a user. The New user... action has ellipsis but Rename does not although it requires extra actions to actually rename the account. In Micrsoft SQL Server Management Studio menu File - Print has Properties... button with Ellipsis.

This is just after 5 minutes of investigating. There are plenty more examples.

You can argue for both conventions for both these actions. You can't actually change any properties or options without doing some extra actions in the dialog that is displayed which assumes that ellipsis should be used. However you might just be interested in viewing what options or properties that are defined and that would assume that no ellipsis is used. Microsoft also acknowledge that there are instances when there is ambiguity

"In case of ambiguity (for example, the command label lacks a verb), decide based on the most likely user action. If simply viewing the window is a common action, don't use an ellipsis." However based on this it would make more sense to have ellipsis for Options and Properties as it is probably more likely that you want to change a property that just view it.