Improving menu placement strategies for pen input

We investigate menu selection in circular and rectangular pop-up menus using stylus-driven direct input on horizontal and vertical display surfaces. An experiment measured performance in a target acquisition task in three different conditions: direct input on a horizontal display surface, direct input on a vertical display and indirect input to a vertical display. The third condition allows comparison of direct and indirect techniques commonly used for vertical displays. The results of the study show that both left-handed and right-handed users demonstrate a consistent, but mirrored pattern of selection times that is corroborated by qualitative measures of user preference. We describe a menu placement strategy for a tabletop display that detects the handedness of the user and displays rectangular pop-up menus. This placement is based on the results of our study.