Gestures for pointing devices

A design research about gesture design for pointing devices in screen-based environments. For exploring design patterns, the analysis investigated the gesture design of five different end-user products: Desktop operating systems, mobile operating systems, 3rd Party software, small software products, and common hardware products. The beginning of the paper describes what a gesture is, and which different kind of gestures exist. Afterwards the analysis merges the gesture design results with the basic commands for pointing devices. This approach points out which gestures are often used, and in which context they are used. The results give interaction designers and software engineers a guidance for implementing gestures in their own products. Furthermore, the paper proposes solutions for gesture documentation, and a guidance concept for complicated gestures. The last part of the paper deals with an industrial design view on pointing devices as an input channel. It discusses the interface design evolution from a hardware driven to a software driven approach.