Simple vs. compound mark hierarchical marking menus

We present a variant of hierarchical marking menus where items are selected using a series of inflection-free simple marks, rather than the single "zig-zag" compound mark used in the traditional design. Theoretical analysis indicates that this simple mark approach has the potential to significantly increase the number of items in a marking menu that can be selected efficiently and accurately. A user experiment is presented that compares the simple and compound mark techniques. Results show that the simple mark technique allows for significantly more accurate and faster menu selections overall, but most importantly also in menus with a large number of items where performance of the compound mark technique is particularly poor. The simple mark technique also requires significantly less physical input space to perform the selections, making it particularly suitable for small footprint pen-based input devices. Visual design alternatives are also discussed. Categories and Subject...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: UIST
• Authors: Shengdong Zhao, Ravin Balakrishnan
• Keywords: Compound Mark, Mark Technique, Simple Mark, UIST 2004