The Hotbox: efficient access to a large number of menu-items

The proliferation of multiple toolbars and UI widgetsaround the perimeter of application windows is an indication thatthe traditional GUI design of a single menubar is notsufficient to support large scale applications with numerousfunctions. In this paper we describe a new widget which is anenhancement of the traditional menubar which dramaticallyincreases menu-item capacity. This widget, called the Hotboxcombines several GUI techniques which are generally usedindependently: accelerator keys, modal dialogs, pop-up/pull downmenus, radial menus, marking menus and menubars. These techniquesare fitted together to create a single, easy to learn yet fast tooperate GUI widget which can handle significantly moremenu-items than the traditional GUI menubar. Wedescribe the design rationale of the Hotbox and its effectivenessin a large scale commercial application. While the Hotbox wasdeveloped for a particular application domain, the widget itselfand the design rationale are potentially useful in otherdomains.