I talked to Nicolas a bit about this, and one idea that seems not to
have made it to the Wiki is the clipboard.
Disclaimer: I have thought for some time that a stack is a much
better idea than a buffer as a clipboard, so I may just be trying to
put this idea everywhere.
The idea was that there should be an area, probably near the top-left
of the screen where clippings could be dragged. If there was
something there already, then the new object would go on top (i.e.
not destroy the existing clipping). Copies of it could then be
dragged elsewhere by the user to perform a paste operation. At any
time, the top item could be destroyed by scribbling it out (only
destroy data on the clipboard with the user's express permission, not
as a side-effect). If the user tapped on the top clipping, it would
expand in a way similar to the dock to show all current clippings,
allowing older ones to be accessed.
In addition to this, there should also be a link icon under the
clippings pile. If the user dragged this, then it would embed a link
to the original of the object on the clippings pile, rather than a
copy. This would allow easy creation of hypermedia documents on the
device.
P.S. Don't forget that with a pen interface, all of the Fitts' Law
bonuses for screen edges and corners stop existing.
