Sketch Recogniton User Interfaces: Guidelines for Design and Development

Christine Alvarado

Summary

The author introduces SkRUIs, sketch recognition user interfaces, as new type of interface not addressed in previous literature. Prior work has focused on HCI for pen-based input or sketch recognition, but not the combination of the two. An example application for drawing diagrams for a power presentation is presented. The author states that traditional HCI evaluation techniques are not entirely suited for SkRUIs, and these techniques require modification to support SkRUIs.

Discussion

While it's nice to see research being done in this area, I'm not convinced by the work. Why can't Powerpoint support incorporation of sketch recognition for diagramming? Why must it be done in a separate application? Doing beautification on window switches doesn't seem like the best idea. What if I'm drawing, but I get an instant message in the middle and decide to check it. I may not be ready for beautification to occur. A SkRUI is still a GUI, just more specific. The interaction fundamentals of GUI design still apply.