A stylus-based user interface for text : entry and editing
Author(s)
Goodisman, Aaron (Aaron Abraham)
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Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Advisor
David Goldberg and Christopher Schmandt.
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Show full item recordAbstract
A computer system with a user interface based on a stylus offers many potential benefits. A stylus is portable, usable with one hand, and works with a wide variety of systems, from notebook-sized computers to computers with wall-sized displays. In any new system, the methods by which a user manipulates textual information are important. This thesis explores the utility of stylus-based input for several text-related tasks, and informally studies a number of user interaction techniques. We describe a system for entering text with a stylus and investigate user interface techniques for interfacing with a text recognizer, concluding that a stylus is a feasible input device for entering small amounts of text. We also implement a simple text editing system utilizing gestural commands and explore the interactions of a stylus with some additional user interface techniques: scrolling and on-screen buttons. We discuss some alternatives in the design of such an editing system, including the use of "markup editing." We conclude that stylus-based systems can be easy to use and learn and lend themselves to the incorporation of knowledge about users' tasks.
Description
Thesis (S.B. and S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1991. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100).
Date issued
1991Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer SciencePublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.