In
user interface design
User interface (UI) design or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the ...
, a pie menu or radial menu is a
circular
Circular may refer to:
* The shape of a circle
* ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega
* Circular letter (disambiguation)
** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement
* Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy
* Circular ...
context menu
A context menu (also called contextual, shortcut, and pop up or pop-up menu) is a menu in a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears upon user interaction, such as a right-click mouse operation. A context menu offers a limited set of choic ...
where selection depends on direction. It is a
graphical control element. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with
stylus input, and well with a
mouse. Pie slices are drawn with a hole in the middle for an easy way to exit the menu.
Pie menus work well with keyboard acceleration, particularly four and eight item menus, on the cursor keys and the
number pad
A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key,
is the palm-sized, usually-17-key section of a standard computer keyboard, usually on the far right. It provides calculator-style efficiency for entering numbers. The idea of a 10-key nu ...
. A goal of pie menus is to provide a smooth, reliable gestural style of interaction for novices and experts.
[ A slice can lead to another pie menu; selecting this may center the pointer in the new menu.
A marking menu is a variant of this technique that makes the menu less sensitive to variance in gesture size.]
As a kind of context menu, pie menus are often context-sensitive, showing different options depending on what the pointer was pointing at when the menu was requested.
History
The first documented radial menu is attributed to a system called PIXIE in 1969. Some universities explored alternative visual layouts.
In 1986, Mike Gallaher and Don Hopkins
Don Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland and a former member of the University of Maryland Huma ...
together independently arrived at the concept of a context menu based on the angle to the origin where the exact angle and radius could be passed as parameters to a command, and a mouse click could be used to trigger an item or submenu.
The first performance comparison to linear menus was performed in 1988 showing an increase in performance of 15% less time and a reduction of selection errors.
The role-playing video game ''Secret of Mana
''Secret of Mana'', originally released in Japan as is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game ''Seiken Densetsu'', rele ...
'' featured an innovative icon-based radial menu system in 1993. Its ring menu system was adopted by later video games.
Usage
For novice users, pie menus are easy because they are a self-revealing gestural interface: They show what you can do and direct you how to do it. By clicking and popping up a pie menu, looking at the labels, moving the pointer in the desired direction, then clicking to make a selection, users learn the menu and practice the gesture to "mark ahead" ("mouse ahead" in the case of a mouse, "wave ahead" in the case of a dataglove
A wired glove (also called a dataglove or cyberglove) is an input device for human–computer interaction worn like a glove.
Various sensor technologies are used to capture physical data such as bending of fingers. Often a motion tracker, such ...
). With a little practice, it becomes quite easy to mark ahead even through nested pie menus.
For the expert, the pie menus are more efficient. Because they might have built up the muscle memory for certain menu actions, and able to select the option they want without looking the pop up selections. In some cases, only when used more slowly like a traditional menu, does a pie menu pop up on the screen, to reveal the available selections. Moreover, novices can gradually become experts when they practice the same pie menu selection for many times and start to remember the menu and the motion. As Jaron Lanier
Jaron Zepel Lanier (, born May 3, 1960) is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality, La ...
of VPL Research
VPL Research was one of the first companies that developed and sold virtual reality products. It was founded by computer scientist Jaron Lanier in 1984. "VPL" stood for "Virtual Programming Languages". In 1990, VPL Research filed for bankruptcy an ...
has remarked, "The mind may forget, but the body remembers." Pie menus take advantage of the body's ability to remember muscle motion and direction, even when the mind has forgotten the corresponding symbolic labels.
Comparison with other interaction techniques
Pie menus are faster and more reliable to select from than linear menus, because selection depends on direction instead of distance. The circular menu slices are large in size and near the pointer for fast interaction (see Fitts's law). Experienced users use muscle memory
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-t ...
without looking at the menu while selecting from it. Nested pie menus can efficiently offer many options, and some pie menus can pop up linear menus, and combine linear and radial items in the same menu. Pie menus just like any popup menu
A context menu (also called contextual, shortcut, and pop up or pop-up menu) is a menu in a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears upon user interaction, such as a right-click mouse operation. A context menu offers a limited set of choic ...
are shown only when requested, resulting in less visual distraction and cognitive load than toolbars and menu bars that are always shown.
Pie menus show available options, in contrast to invisible mouse gestures
In computing, a pointing device gesture or mouse gesture (or simply gesture) is a way of combining pointing device or finger movements and clicks that the software recognizes as a specific computer event and responds to accordingly. They can be ...
. Pie menus, which delay appearance until the pointer is not moving, reduce intrusiveness to the same level as mouse gestures for experienced users. Pie menus take up more screen space than linear menus, and the number of slices in an individual menu must be kept low for effectiveness by using submenus. When using pie menus, submenus may overlap with the parent menu, but the parent menu may become translucent or hidden.
Pie menus are most suited for actions that have been laid out by humans, and have logical grouping choices. Linear menus are most suited for dynamic, large menus that have many possible options, without any logical grouping, since pie menus can only show a limited number of menu items. Around 3-12 items can be reasonably accommodated in a radial layout, but additional items past that tend to counteract the benefits of using pie menus in the first place. This can be overcome with related techniques that allow chaining commands in one single gesture through submenus.
However, using interaction techniques
An interaction technique, user interface technique or input technique is a combination of hardware and software elements that provides a way for computer users to accomplish a single task. For example, one can go back to the previously visited pa ...
that are not pointer-based have proven problematic with both pie and linear menus for cluttered digital tabletop, where physical objects might occlude menu items.
Pie menus are unavailable as standard graphical control element in common commercial toolkit A toolkit is an assembly of tools; set of basic building units for user interfaces.
The word toolkit may refer to:
* Abstract Window Toolkit
* Accessibility Toolkit
* Adventure Game Toolkit
* B-Toolkit
* Battlefield Mod Development Toolkit
* Ch ...
s. Video games often require custom widget development, so pie menu cost is lower in that particular scenario.
Notable implementations
Software
*Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
, an open source 3D modelling program, which currently has pie menus as an optional feature
*PowerAnimator
PowerAnimator and Animator, also referred to simply as "Alias", the precursor to what is now Maya and StudioTools, is a highly integrated industrial 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects suite. It had a relatively long track record, starting w ...
, a commercial 3D modelling program that used marking menus
*Mozilla
Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, w ...
and Mozilla Firefox extensions RadialContext and easyGestures
*Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for interact ...
, a commercial 3D modelling program
*Metisse
Metisse is a 2.5D X window manager with many features that set it apart from the traditional 3D "cube" workspace. Windows can be turned three-dimensionally in any direction, enabling the user to fit more windows onto a screen, and they can be sc ...
and Unix Desktop Environment, window managers
A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They work in conjunction ...
for the X Window System
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...
* modo, an advanced polygon and subdivision surface modeling package
*Songza
Songza was a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada.
Stating that its playlists are made by music experts, the service would recommend its users on various playlists based on time of ...
, a music search engine and internet jukebox that uses a pie menu for its main mode of interaction, by Aza Raskin
Aza Raskin (born February 1, 1984) is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and of the Earth Species Project. He is also a writer, entrepreneur, inventor, and interface designer. He is the son of Jef Raskin, a human–computer inte ...
* Quicksilver via the Constellation plug-in
* Sugar, GUI implementation for the One Laptop per Child project
*BumpTop
BumpTop was a 3D desktop environment that simulates the normal behavior and physical properties of a real-world desk and enhances it with automatic tools to organize its contents. It is aimed at stylus interaction, making it more suitable for ta ...
, a computer desktop created to mimic paper files on a real world desk that uses pie menus as many of its control menus
*Android Browser
is a list of features in the Android operating system.
General
; Messaging: SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text messaging and Android Cloud To Device Messaging (C2DM) and now enhanced version of C2DM, Android ...
in Android
* OneNote App for Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
and Windows RT
Windows RT is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. It is a version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7). First unveiled in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show, the Windows RT 8 operat ...
* The Cherry mouse driver for the Power Pad mouse M-1000 optionally offers a circular context menu
* The Samsung Galaxy Note series
The Samsung Galaxy Note series is a discontinued line of high-end Android phablets and smartphones developed and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The line is primarily oriented towards pen computing; all Galaxy Note models ship with a stylu ...
, starting with the Note 3
Games
* The 2000 videogame ''The Sims
''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation game, life simulation video games developed by Maxis and video game publisher, published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling ...
'' extensively utilized pie menus for player-directed interaction. These pie menus were primarily developed by Don Hopkins
Don Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland and a former member of the University of Maryland Huma ...
.
* The videogame '' Grand Theft Auto V'', for weapon and radio station selection
* The virtual world ''Second Life
''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
''
*''Secret of Mana
''Secret of Mana'', originally released in Japan as is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game ''Seiken Densetsu'', rele ...
'' and its successor ''Secret of Evermore
''Secret of Evermore'' is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America on October 1, 1995, and in Europe and Australia in February 1996. A Japanese re ...
'' (where the menu was used to accelerate the pacing of combat)
* ''The Temple of Elemental Evil
''The Temple of Elemental Evil'' is an adventure module for the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'', set in the game's ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setting. The module was published by TSR, Inc. in 1985 for the first edition ' ...
''
* ''Mass Effect
''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...
''
See also
* Crossing-based interface
* Menu (computing)
In user interface design, a menu is a list of options or commands presented to the user of a computer or embedded system. A menu may either be a system's entire user interface, or only part of a more complex one.
Navigation
A user chooses a ...
* Pie chart
References
*
External links
JavaScript/jQuery Radmenu Plugin
Open source
* Th
is a marking menu implementation for Qt
Tcl/Tk
- A simple implementation in pure Tcl/Tk
Tk is a free and open-source, cross-platform widget toolkit that provides a library of basic elements of GUI widgets for building a graphical user interface (GUI) in many programming languages.
Tk provides a number of widgets commonly needed to ...
Pie Menus in c2 wiki
Pie Menus for Qt
Pie Menus for OLPC Sugar User Interface, in Python with GTK, Cairo and Pango modules
Slashdot article: Pie-menus in Mozilla
*Asymetrix oolBookpie menu component, b
Paolo Tosolini
Source code
Python
- Open source Python pie menus for GTK/Cairo/Pango/OLPC/Sugar user interface, by Don Hopkins
Don Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland and a former member of the University of Maryland Huma ...
.
OpenLaszlo
- Open source OpenLaszlo pie menus for Flash, by Don Hopkins.
- Open source JavaScript pie menus for the Internet Explorer browser, by Don Hopkins.
JavaScript/jQuery Radmenu Plugin
Open source JavaScript radial / pie menus for ALL browsers, by Nirvana Tikku.
- Open source C++ ActiveX pie menus for the Internet Explorer browser, by Don Hopkins.
X11
- Open source "piewm" X11 window manager with pie menus, by Don Hopkins, maintained by Russ Nelson
Russell Nelson (born March 21, 1958) is an American computer programmer. He was a founding board member of the Open Source Initiative and briefly served as its president in 2005.
Career
Nelson wrote code for some programs: In 1983, he co-wrote ...
.
TCL/Tk
- Free software Pie Menus for TCK/Tk, written in 1992 for ''SimCity
''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, ''SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off "''Sim ...
'' by Don Hopkins.
NeWS
- Free software Pie Menus for NeWS 1.1 written in March 1988 by Don Hopkins.
X10
- Free software Pie Menus for X10 "uwm" Window Manager, written in June 1986 by Don Hopkins.
Suntools
- Free software Pie Menus for Suntools, written in January 1987 by Mark Weiser
Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was a computer scientist and chief technology officer (CTO) at Xerox PARC. Weiser is widely considered to be the father of ubiquitous computing, a term he coined in 1988. Within Silicon Vall ...
.
X10
- Free software Theta menus, proof of concept prototype for X10, written in June 1986 by Don Hopkins.
Pie Menu Articles by Don Hopkins
by Greg Bronevetsky.
3D Circle Menu Variation - Cube Menu
, by conquex with source code.
*Asymetrix oolBookpie menu component, b
Paolo Tosolini
Source code
Pie Menus for Windows
Dr. Dobb's Journal, Nov., 1992, pp 30–39, by Carl Rollo.
by Carl Rollo.
Pie Menu
for libGDX, an open-source library for Java game developers
Demonstration
available.
WPF Pie Menu
by Christoph Menge
wheelnav.js
Animated JavaScript navigation component based on Raphaël (JavaScript library) (SVG/VML) by softwaretailoring.net
Annotated Bibliography of References to Gestures, Touchscreens, and Pen Computing
{{Graphical control elements
Graphical control elements
User interface techniques