pointing / 06 of 13

Bisect mode

Bisect mode splits the screen into four and zooms into the quarter you pick, until the pointer is on the spot you want.

Narrowing down

Press b in the grid, or start with stochos --bisect. The screen splits into four, labelled a, s, d and f: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. Type one, and that quarter is split into four in turn, with the pointer in its middle. Keep going until the pointer is on target, then act: Space clicks the middle of the region.

Each letter halves the region both ways. On a 1920 × 1080 screen, six letters take it down to 30 by 16 pixels. One more split would make it smaller than min_cell_size, 16 pixels by default. stochos stops there, lights up the region, and ignores more letters.

It takes more keys than the grid, but you only ever choose between four, and you watch the pointer close in.

Try it here

Click Send, a quarter at a time

keys·Focus the screen, then type a, s, d or f.Type the quarter Send is in: a, s, d or f.Again, or press Space to click its middle.Tap the quarter Send is in.Tap again, or press Space to click.As small as it goes. Press Space to click.Sent. Now try it on your own desktop.Missed Send. Each click starts over.“m” isn’t a quarter. Use a, s, d or f.Focus the screen, then type a, s, d or f.

Focus the screen and type. The screen is a miniature, so the splits run out a level or two sooner than they would on a real one.

Moving on

key	goes to
`Backspace`	The region before.
`n`	The grid.
`v`	Free mode, starting in the middle of the region.
`c`	Hint mode.

The split

config.toml

[bisect]
rows = 3
cols = 3
hints = ["7", "8", "9", "4", "5", "6", "1", "2", "3"]
min_cell_size = 16

A 3 × 3 split gets there in fewer letters, choosing among nine. This one is laid out like a keypad on the number row. hints has one letter per cell, left to right and top to bottom, and needs at least rows × cols of them.

min_cell_size is in pixels. Lower it to reach smaller spots. The letters shrink to fit the cells.