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Faster cascading menu selections with enlarged activation areas

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Andrew GinAuthors Info & Claims

GI '06: Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2006

Pages 65 - 71

Published: 07 June 2006 Publication History

Abstract

Cascading menus are used in almost all graphical user interfaces. Most current cascade widgets implement an explicit delay between the cursor entering/leaving a parent cascade menu item and posting/unposting the associated menu. The delay allows users to make small steering errors while dragging across items, and it allows optimal diagonal paths from parent to cascade items. However, the delay slows the pace of interaction for users who wait for the delay to expire, and it demands jerky discrete movements for experts who wish to pre-empt the delay by clicking. This paper describes Enlarged activation area MenUs (EMUs), which have two features: first, they increase the area of the parent menu associated with each cascade; second, they eliminate the posting and unposting delay. An evaluation shows that EMUs allow cascade items to be selected up to 29% faster than traditional menus, without harming top-level item selection times. They also have a positive smoothing effect on menu selections, allowing continuous sweeping selections in contrast to discrete movements that are punctuated with clicks.

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Cited By

Yamanaka SBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Steering Performance with Error-accepting DelaysProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300800(1-9)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300800
Bouzit SCalvary GChêne DVanderdonckt JFaily SJiang NDogan HJacqui T(2016)A comparison of shortcut and step-by-step adaptive menus for smartphonesProceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference: Fusion!10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.26(1-12)Online publication date: 11-Jul-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.26
Bailly GLecolinet ENigay L(2016)Visual Menu TechniquesACM Computing Surveys10.1145/300217149:4(1-41)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3002171
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Faster cascading menu selections with enlarged activation areas
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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Information & Contributors

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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

GI '06: Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2006

June 2006

243 pages

ISBN:1568813082

Conference Chairs:
Carl Gutwin
Univerity of Saskatchewan
,
Stephen Mann
The University of Waterloo

Sponsors

CHCCS: The Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society

Publisher

Canadian Information Processing Society

Canada

Publication History

Published: 07 June 2006

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GI '06 Paper Acceptance Rate 31 of 94 submissions, 33%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 206 of 508 submissions, 41%

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Cited By

Yamanaka SBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Steering Performance with Error-accepting DelaysProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300800(1-9)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300800
Bouzit SCalvary GChêne DVanderdonckt JFaily SJiang NDogan HJacqui T(2016)A comparison of shortcut and step-by-step adaptive menus for smartphonesProceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference: Fusion!10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.26(1-12)Online publication date: 11-Jul-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.26
Bailly GLecolinet ENigay L(2016)Visual Menu TechniquesACM Computing Surveys10.1145/300217149:4(1-41)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3002171
Murata KShibuya Y(2016)Acceptable Dwell Time Range for Densely Arranged Object Selection Using Video Mirror InterfacesProceedings, Part II, of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Platforms and Techniques - Volume 973210.1007/978-3-319-39516-6_7(71-81)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-319-39516-6_7
Afergan DShibata THincks SPeck EYuksel BChang RJacob RBenko HDontcheva MWigdor D(2014)Brain-based target expansionProceedings of the 27th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology10.1145/2642918.2647414(583-593)Online publication date: 5-Oct-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2642918.2647414
Walter RBailly GValkanova NMüller JQuigley ADiamond SIrani PSubramanian S(2014)CuenesicsProceedings of the 16th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices & services10.1145/2628363.2628368(299-308)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2628363.2628368
Samp KDecker S(2011)Navigation time variabilityProceedings of the 13th IFIP TC 13 international conference on Human-computer interaction - Volume Part I10.5555/2042053.2042094(388-395)Online publication date: 5-Sep-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2042053.2042094
Ahlström DCockburn AGutwin CIrani PMynatt EFitzpatrick GHudson SEdwards KRodden T(2010)Why it's quick to be squareProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/1753326.1753534(1371-1380)Online publication date: 10-Apr-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1753326.1753534
Moffatt KMcGrenere J(2009)Exploring Methods to Improve Pen-Based Menu Selection for Younger and Older AdultsACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/1525840.15258432:1(1-34)Online publication date: 1-May-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1525840.1525843
Moffatt KYuen SMcGrenere JHarper SBarreto A(2008)Hover or tap?Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility10.1145/1414471.1414483(51-58)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1414471.1414483
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