When you right mouse-click on an icon, say your “My Computer” icon on your desktop, and you get that menu that lists “Open, Explore, Search…, Manage, Map Network Drive, etc, misc, etc…”
What is that pop-up menu called? What’s it’s name?
I believe it is the “context menu” as the options you are presented with are determined by the context (i.e. you get different options if you’re clicking on an icon, on the desktop, etc.).
All of Microsoft Press’s books that discuss various Office products refer to that menu as the “shortcut menu”. I have also seen it referred to as the “context menu” elsewhere, but MSP prefers “shortcut menu” as their standard usage.
Hmmm… Microsoft .NET - the application most people use to write Windows apps - calls it a Context menu. I’m guessing that sometime in the past couple years some doofus at MS decided to change the name from “shortcut” to “context” just so people could sell more books.
I have one of those Petzold Windows API guides (great book, btw) from a few years back. I’m quite sure he called them “shortcut menus”.
It’s been my general observation that the term “context-sensitive menu” is used for right-click menus within an application environment.
Oh, for CRAP’S SAKE. Would it kill the people over there to show an ounce of consistency in naming parts of the user interface for like TWO SECONDS, EVER?
I know this might seem like a silly thing to get upset about, but I index books on these topics all the time, and it is a total freaking nightmare to put together a coherent index when the PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS cannot even get the terminology straight. GAHHHHHH!
Pardon my caps.
Per the official Microsoft user experience guidelines book, the official term is “Shortcut menu”. They’re also referred to as context menus or pop-up menus, but those would be secondary terms.
To second what everyone else here says - it’s a “shortcut menu” - especially if you’re working on Windows. That’s what the MS MoS says (Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Communications - I use it as part of my style guide as a tech writer).
Sun’s guide (Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry) doesn’t seem to care what you call it; apparently they go for the simple “menu.”
In my docs, I generally use this convention:
“Right click on My Computer and select Properties from the menu that appears.”
HTH!
Snicks