Menu Designer

oAdd Background Shapes, Borders or Lines Background shapes and borders can be color-coded for different types of menu items. For example, green for salads, or orange for pizzas.

oAdd Labels Labels (or titles) give more information about the group of items, but they take up more screen space, and must be read by the order-taker.

oColor-code buttons. Use the same button style for related items, or choose a button style of "Unstyled" and then specify the same font and Unstyled Background. See Change Button Color or Caption.

oAdd Background Shapes, Borders or Lines. Background shapes, borders, and lines can separate different types of menu items on a panel without taking up much space.

oAdd Labels (titles) to the panel.

oWhen you are laying out a panel, the buttons touched for a typical order should be arranged so that they are touched in a sequence that flows, for example, from bottom to top or from right to left.

oPosition modifier buttons near the items they are modifying.

oPosition commonly-used components such as ticket displays, size buttons, and quantity buttons in the same place on every panel. If you are designing a series of new panels, see the next expanding point about using a template.

A panel using background shapes to group related items.

oSet a Selection Base Quantity on panels where the quantity order rarely varies (for example, beverage or appetizer panels).

oAdd Tender buttons to menu panels that are used in situations where orders are taken primarily on one screen, for example, at a front counter, bar, or buffet station.

oSet a Selection Base Item for a panel. This will reduce the number of buttons an order-taker pushes to complete a menu selection. Selection Base Items are particularly useful on panels that feature create-your-own (CYO) menu items like pizzas or subs.

To Create a Template:

1.Right-click on the Panels branch , point to Add, and click Designed Panel.

2.On the General tab, clear the Active and Visible check boxes.

3.Enter "Template" into the Name field.

4.Click on the Panels branch again. The Template panel will appear in the expanded list of menu panels. The grayed-out name indicates that the template panel is not active (it will not appear in Store Manager, therefore cannot be activated for use in Terminal).

To use the template, you will make a copy of it, add components common to all panels (for example, background shapes, the ticket display, quantity buttons, and size buttons) and then edit that copy to create the new panels that will appear as menu screens in Terminal.

To Use the Template:

1.Right-click on the Template panel in the Menu Tree, and click on Duplicate.

2.A panel named Copy of Template will appear in the expanded panel list.

3.Click the Copy of Template panel in the expanded panel list, and then edit the following properties on the General tab:

a.Select the Active check box.

b.In the Name field, rename the panel to indicate what section of the menu is displayed there (for example, "Alcoholic Beverages").

4.Edit Panel Components to create the new panel.

Because every store's menu is different, there is no "correct" number of panels, but the goal when designing a menu is usually to create the fewest panels possible, while still keeping each panel uncluttered. Numerous panels make memorizing the menu more difficult, and it takes time to navigate between them. If you cannot avoid having many panels in your menu, consider using a main panel with links to the order screens.

A main menu panel with buttons that link to order screens.

oSet a panel to Autocomplete, so you do not need a button that completes the menu selection.

oIf using the Add Buttons wizard to add buttons to a new panel, leave the Only Make Buttons for Active Items check box selected so that inactive buttons (e.g. for seasonal items) aren't crowding the screen.

oHide buttons for seasonal items that are not currently in use.

oUse pop-up panels for modifiers. This will save space on the menu panel, but remember that order-takers will have to  know which modifiers are on the pop-up. Pop-ups with only a few modifiers are best.

oMake buttons smaller. You can size the buttons, and then edit the button captions to fit if needed. Small buttons will take up less space, but be sure they can still be pressed easily.