Design Apple HIG Menus and Buttons

Compiles Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for menus and buttons into ten synthesized Key Principles plus full Apple reference docs for eleven components: menus, context menus, dock menus, edit menus, the menu bar, toolbars, buttons, the action button, pop-up buttons, pull-down buttons, and disclosure controls. The principles establish a clear division of labor: toolbars hold the most frequently used commands while rarely used actions belong in menus; on macOS, the menu bar is the primary command interface and every command must be reachable from it, with toolbars and context menus only supplementing it, never replacing it; context menus (right-click or long-press) are for secondary actions relevant to the item under the pointer, and a command should never live only in a context menu; pop-up buttons select exactly one option from a mutually exclusive set, while pull-down buttons offer a list of commands with no current selection; action buttons consolidate related actions behind a single toolbar or title-bar icon; disclosure controls show or hide additional content; and dock menus stay short, focused on the most useful actions available while the app is running.

Use it when deciding which menu or button type to expose a given command or action through, and when structuring keyboard shortcuts and platform-specific behavior across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. The core discipline is standardization: use standard button styles rather than custom designs, since system styles communicate affordance and keep visual consistency, and keep menu item ordering and grouping to platform conventions rather than inventing a custom order. It is not a component library - there is no code to install, only rules for which control fits which situation. The menu bar's "every command reachable" rule is macOS-specific; iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps route the equivalent commands through toolbars, context menus, and action buttons instead.

There is no API - output is a component recommendation naming which menu or button type fits and why, a visual-hierarchy plan covering placement, sizing, and grouping within the interface, platform-specific behavior across the four targeted platforms, and macOS keyboard-shortcut guidance for both standard and custom menu-item and toolbar-action shortcuts. Before recommending, the skill asks which platforms are targeted, whether the action is primary or secondary, how many actions need to be exposed, and whether the target is a macOS menu bar app specifically.

Cross-references four sibling HIG skills covering adjacent interface areas: hig-components-search for search fields and page controls that sit alongside toolbars and menus, hig-components-controls for the toggles, pickers, and segmented controls that complement buttons, hig-components-dialogs for the alerts, sheets, and popovers that menu items or buttons often trigger, and hig-inputs for the keyboard-shortcut and pointer-interaction mechanics behind menus and toolbars.

Designers and developers deciding how to expose commands and actions in a native Apple-platform app - which sit in a toolbar, a menu, a context menu, or behind a pop-up, pull-down, or action button - who want Apple's own placement and platform rules rather than an ad hoc command layout.