High Precision Touchscreens:
Design Strategies and Comparisons with a Mouse
High Precision Touchscreens:
Design Strategies and Comparisons with a Mouse
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Date
1998-10-15
Authors
Sears, Andrew
Shneiderman, Ben
Advisor
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DRUM DOI
Abstract
Three studies were conducted comparing speed of
performance, error rates, and user preference ratings for
three selection devices. The devices tested were a
touchscreen, a touchscreen with stabilization (stabilization
software filters and smooths raw data from hardware), and
a mouse. The task was the selection of rectangular targets
1, 4, 16, and 32 pixels per side (0.4x0.6, 1.7x2.2,
6.9x9.0, 13.8x17.9 mm respectively). Touchscreen users
were able to point at single pixel targets, thereby
countering widespread expectations of poor touchscreen
resolution. The results show no difference in performance
between the mouse and touchscreen for targets ranging
from 32 to 4 pixels per side. In addition, stabilization
significantly reduced the error rates for the touchscreen
when selecting small targets. These results imply that
touchscreens, when properly used, have attractive
advantages in selecting targets as small as 4 pixels per size
(approximately one-quarter of the size of a single
character). A variant of Fitts' Law is proposed to predict
touchscreen pointing times. Ideas for future research are
also presented.
(Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-450)