System menus

[Richard Gaskin]

Mark Waddingham wrote:
>> It may be worth noting that there is no sanctioned API for that, as 
>> Apple considers those menus to be exclusively for their own use:
>>
>>     Reserved for use by Apple, the right side of the menu bar
>>     may contain items that provide feedback on and access to
>>     certain hardware or network settings.
>> <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGMenus/chapter_16_section_4.html> 
>>
>>
>> Third-party programs which make such menus for themselves do so by 
>> violating Apple's design mandate and effectively "hacking" the system.
> 
> I think the term 'hacking' used in this context is a little strong.

Since we now live in a world where clicking a "Cancel" button has been 
characterized as "hacking", it seemed a fair enough usage here. ;)

But seriously, I'm just old enough to have different connotations for 
"hacking".  Back in the olden days it wasn't always a bad thing, 
referring instead to any earnest poking around under the hood to get 
unusual results, rather like hacking brush out of the way so more 
interesting plants can flourish.

> In regards to dock menus then - yes - useful things those and its nice 
> how they correlate (to some extent) with task-bar icons with menus on 
> Windows...

I just submitted a request for a new iconMenu stack property, with 
accompanying iconMenuPick message:

<http://support.runrev.com/bugdatabase/show_bug.cgi?id=3339>


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  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
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