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Abstract

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summary

.description
The abstract of "A Pie Menu Cookbook: Techniques for the Design of 
Circular Menus"

.contents

	Pie menus are used for making selections from items displayed on the
	computer screen, by pointing and clicking at the desired one with a
	mouse. The regions of the menu are shaped like the slices of a pie,
	laid out in a circle around the menu center.
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	The click of a mouse button invokes a menu, which pops up on the
	screen positioned so that the cursor is centered in the small inactive
	region in the menu center. The active target regions are all adjacent
	to the cursor, but in different directions.  Pie menus are fast,
	because it only takes a small amount of cursor movement to point at
	one of the regions, and they are accurate, because the wedge shaped
	regions all have large areas.
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	The circular layout of pie menus makes them very appropriate for
	certain tasks. Complementary items can be placed in opposite
	directions, and spatially oriented items can be put in their
	appropriate directions. Experienced users can select from familiar pie
	menus without looking at the menu, and can even mouse ahead into menus
	faster than the computer can update the screen.  When the user selects
	by mousing ahead into a menu, suppressing the menu display can speed
	up interaction considerably.
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	The cursor distance from the menu center can be increased to get more
	angular precision, for accurate directional selection. It can also be
	used as an argument to the selection, as a continuous analog value, or
	a discrete sub-selection.
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	Users can benefit from commonly used pie menus if they are designed to
	be easy to learn and use. A window management pie menu with its
	spatially oriented items in appropriate directions is an example of
	such a menu. A font selection menu using direction to select font
	style, and distance to select point size, is an example of how the
	two-dimensional aspect of pie menus can be exploited.
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	A user should be able to discern the function of a pie menu by looking
	at it. A simple, intuitive, consistent look for visually representing
	the meaning and function of a pie menu can help to create an easy to
	use user interface.  Pie menus can also be designed so that they have
	a good kinesthetic feel to them, they do not require a lot of wasted
	mouse movement, and the directions are easier to select, and well
	matched with the input device.
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	==> .~ Introduction~