You may want to use a requester or a window as an alternative to menus. A requester can function as a "super menu" using gadgets to provide the commands and options of a menu but with fewer restrictions on their placement, size and layout. See the chapter entitled "intuition requesters and alerts," for more information. A window, also, could be substituted for a menu where an application has special requirements. Unlike menus, windows allow layered operations so that commands and options can be presented without forcing all other window output in the active screen to halt. Windows may be sized, positioned and depth arranged. This positioning flexibility allows the user to make other parts of the screen and other windows visible while they are entering data or selecting operations. The ability to access or view other data may be important in the user's choice of actions or attributes. See the "intuition windows" chapter for more details.