An approach to gesture-based editing of diagrams

Abstract

In software development processes, diagram editors play an important role. For instance, editors for creating UML diagrams are often used in early stages of software development. Three input methodologies can be distinguished: traditional mode-based editors, sketching editors, and gesture-based editors. Most of today's diagram editors are mode-based and use the mouse as an input device. (Multi-)touch inputs have not been integrated very well, yet, although a variety of touch input devices, such as (multi-)touch monitors and tablet computers, are quite common today. I present an approach for gesture-based editing of diagrams. The idea is that mode-based diagram editors are extended by off-the-shelf unistroke gesture recognizers. In these diagram editors, users can perform editing tasks, such as creating, modifying, and deleting components, by unistroke gestures.