octopocus

We describe OctoPocus, an example of a dynamic guide that combines on-screen feedforward and feedback to help users learn, execute and remember gesture sets. OctoPocus can be applied to a wide range of single-stroke gestures and recognition algorithms and helps users progress smoothly from novice to expert performance. We provide an analysis of the design space and describe the results of two experi-ments that show that OctoPocus is significantly faster and improves learning of arbitrary gestures, compared to con-ventional Help menus. It can also be adapted to a mark-based gesture set, significantly improving input time compared to a two-level, four-item Hierarchical Marking menu.