Re: [iPAQ] UWM -- the unnamed window manager

Tom writes:
> a) we should do away with the notion of a "cursor" or "cursor position"
> because it doesn't make any sense on a touchscreen device.

Arguably.

> b) with 100+ pixels across, the pie menu will always obscure a
> considerable part of the screen. it then becomes, in fact, a modal
> dialog instead of a menu. but if you're doing modal dialogs anyway, you
> can do much better than using menus.

I tried implementing a pie menu over a year ago. Didn't work, at
all. The idea behind a pie menu is that you don't need to look at
it. You can just go "click...drag...release". But what happens if
you click too close to the edge of the screen? With a relative cursor
device like a mouse, the pie menu code just warps the pointer and
draws the menu near the edge of the screen. Or, it could leave the
menu right there, and grab the pointer. Then the user could move the
pointer away from the edge of the screen.

But the basic concept behind pie menus presumes a device where you can
move without selecting. A pen doesn't have that concept.

Now, what an application *could* do is respond to function keys, and
xstroke could have a set of function-key strokes. Since xstroke
already does full-screen recognition, you have a partial equivalent to
pie menus.

What's nice about pie menus, though, is that they are self-prompting.
If you don't have the menu structure memorized, you can just pop up a
menu and actually read it.

xstroke could be a little more helpful in this regard by recognizing a
pause in a stroke, and (somehow???) letting the user know which glyphs
are available by continuing the stroke up, down, left, and right.
Maybe it could draw some text above, below, left, and right of the
current pointer?

-- 
-russ nelson <sig.a.t.russnelson.com>  http://russnelson.com
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