A Re-Interpretation of Marking Menus : The Usage of Gestalt Principles as Cognitive Tools

It has been demonstrated in the past that marking menus are 3.5 times faster in selecting menu items than linear menus. Other stated strengths of marking menus have included the direct correlation between the physical movement in menu selection and the physical movement in making the corresponding mark. This paper proposes an additional reason why marking menus are such an efficient and powerful user interface widget they make an effective use of numerous gestalt principles, thereby creating a menu that is cognitively represented as a “whole.” These gestalt qualities are described, and variations suggested by this new view are proposed.