Stylus User Interfaces

This paper is concerned with pen-based (also called stylus-based) computers. Two of the key questions for such computers are how to interface to handwriting recognition algorithms, and whether there are interfaces that can effectively exploit the differences between a stylus and a keyboard/mouse. We describe prototypes that explore each of these questions. Our text entry tool is designed around the idea that handwriting recognition algorithms will always be error prone, and has a different flavor from existing systems. Our prototype editor goes beyond the usual gesture editors used with styli and is based on the idea of leaving the markups visible. CR