Xref: utzoo comp.cog-eng:556 comp.windows.misc:581 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watcgl!lrbartram From: lrbartram@watcgl.waterloo.edu (lyn bartram) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng,comp.windows.misc Subject: Re: Using kinesthetic memory for human interfaces Message-ID: <5034@watcgl.waterloo.edu> Date: 30 Jun 88 13:18:21 GMT References: <3535@pdn.uucp> <4988@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <4989@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <35362@linus.UUCP> <5976@pyr.gatech.EDU> Reply-To: lrbartram@watcgl.waterloo.edu (lyn bartram) Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 22 In article (Skip Montanaro) writes: >Suntools remembers the last item selected in a menu and makes it the default >the next time the menu is popped up. The bullseye could represent this >dynamic default, not just a static default. It is easier to implement in >some sense as well, since you don't have to decide ahead of time what the >default should be (and guess wrong most of the time). I would think that in many cases the default position should be a "no op"/ no selection one, to permit a user to invoke the menu without being committed to a decision. This brings us to the question of the "dead spot" in a pie menu. How big should it be? Should there be one? How does its size affect the acuuracy measure of pie menu selection? How does SunTools make the last menu item selected the default - by leaving the positions of the items on the menu the same and placing the cursor on the particular item, or by shuffling the items and having the default always in the same place? Both approaches could be difficult in a radial selection menu. If direction is the selection mechanism, then changing the cursor position counteracts it; and shuffling the position of menu items conflicts with the principle of using kinesthetic memory. lyn bartram Computer Graphics Lab University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario, Canada