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Pop-up menus

A pop-up menu provides users with a quick way to access the most common actions for a highlighted item. You can also use a pop-up menu if a highlighted item has multiple actions associated with it or if a highlighted item does not have any primary actions associated with it. You can create a pop-up menu that contains nine actions, six actions, or three actions.

User goal

Action using the navigation keys

Action using a touch screen

Action using a physical keyboard

Open a pop-up menu.
  • Click the trackpad.
  • If a primary action has already been assigned to an item (for example, open a message), users can click and hold the trackpad to open a pop-up menu.
  • Tap the item.
  • If a primary action has already been assigned to an item (for example, open a message), users can touch and hold a finger on the touch screen to open a pop-up menu.

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Choose an item from a pop-up menu.

Click the trackpad.

Tap the item.

Press the Enter key.

Close a pop-up menu.

Press the Escape key.

Tap outside the pop-up menu.

Open or close the slider.
This screen shows a pop-up menu.

Pop-up menus replace context menus, or short menus. Any existing context menus are automatically converted into pop-up menus.

Best practice: Implementing pop-up menus

  • Use pop-up menus instead of context menus (short menus). Make sure that the pop-up menu provides value to users.
  • If users can click or tap an item, do not include that action in a pop-up menu. For example, if users can click or tap an item to open it, then do not include "Open" in the pop-up menu.
  • Only include the most common actions for a highlighted item in a pop-up menu.
  • Include an icon and a label for each item in the pop-up menu.

Guidelines for placing items in pop-up menus

  • Place the default menu item in the center of the pop-up menu.
  • Order the rest of the items from most common to least common according to the numbered positions below. Try to leverage users' muscle memory by making the order of actions consistent with the order of actions in other BlackBerry device applications. If the most common items compete with context specific items, give the most common items a higher priority.
    This screen shows the different sizes of pop-up menus and the order of items in each menu.
  • If the positions are filled dynamically, do not display menu items that are unavailable. Allow the available menu items to shift position.
  • If there are not enough actions to fill the menu, use a smaller menu. If one or two positions need to be filled, include useful actions such as Copy or Search. If you do not fill a position, "Switch Application" or "Home" appears.
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