Keepin' it real: pushing the desktop metaphor with physics, piles and the pen

We explore making virtual desktops behave in a more physically realistic manner by adding physics simulation and using piling instead of filing as the fundamental organizational structure. Objects can be casually dragged and tossed around, influenced by physical characteristics such as friction and mass, much like we would manipulate lightweight objects in the real world. We present a prototype, called BumpTop, that coherently integrates a variety of interaction and visualization techniques optimized for pen input we have developed to support this new style of desktop organization. Author Keywords Piles, physics-based desktop, pen-based interfaces ACM Classification Keywords H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Interaction styles

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Anand Agarawala, Ravin Balakrishnan
• Keywords: CHI 2006, Fundamental Organizational Structure, Human Computer Interaction, Interfaces Acm Classification, Physics-based Desktop