App Menu

What It Is

The app menu is an app-specific menu that is available from any view on the device. The app menu consists of a title area and a menu that contains the menu commands. The menu is launched by tapping or swiping down on the title area, which is displayed in the top-left area of the app chrome. The app should provide an app name that is displayed in the title area. The app menu is dismissed by tapping outside the menu area.

The menu is not dynamic and the same menu items must appear anytime the menu is launched from within the app. If some menu items are not applicable in the context from which the app is launched, the items should be grayed out.

1. Title area
2. Disabled command

The app menu also contains Global Commands. These are common commands that are available across different apps. The Global commands are shown beneath the other commands in the following order:

• Print--optional and can be switched on by the app if relevant.

• Preferences & Accounts (or just "Preferences" if the app does not use accounts, or "Accounts" if the app does not contain preferences)--launches a view for managing app preferences, accounts, or both.

• Help--launches a view providing user guidance for the current view.

When To Use

Use the app menu to display general commands that are specific to the app or the app view as a whole, rather than for commands that are specific to a particular object in the view.

In general, use the app menu for actions that are only used occasionally within the life cycle of the app. More frequently-used or important commands should be visible within the view.