GestureBar: improving the approachability of gesture-based interfaces

  • Authors:

  • Andrew Bragdon;Robert Zeleznik;Brian Williamson;Timothy Miller;Joseph J. LaViola, Jr.

  • Affiliations:

  • Brown University, Providence, RI, USA;Brown University, Providence, RI, USA;University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA;Brown University, Providence, RI, USA;University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

GestureBar is a novel, approachable UI for learning gestural interactions that enables a walk-up-and-use experience which is in the same class as standard menu and toolbar interfaces. GestureBar leverages the familiar, clean look of a common toolbar, but in place of executing commands, richly discloses how to execute commands with gestures, through animated images, detail tips and an out-of-document practice area. GestureBar's simple design is also general enough for use with any recognition technique and for integration with standard, non-gestural UI components. We evaluate GestureBar in a formal experiment showing that users can perform complex, ecologically valid tasks in a purely gestural system without training, introduction, or prior gesture experience when using GestureBar, discovering and learning a high percentage of the gestures needed to perform the tasks optimally, and significantly outperforming a state of the art crib sheet. The relative contribution of the major design elements of GestureBar is also explored. A second experiment shows that GestureBar is preferred to a basic crib sheet and two enhanced crib sheet variations.