Investigating Performance and Usage of Input Methods for Soft Keyboard Hotkeys

Abstract

Touch-based devices, despite their mainstream availability, do not support a unified and efficient command selection mechanism, available on every platform and application. We advocate that hotkeys, conventionally used as a shortcut mechanism on desktop computers, could be generalized as a command selection mechanism for touch-based devices, even for keyboard-less applications. In this paper, we investigate the performance and usage of soft keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys (abbreviated SoftCuts) through two studies comparing different input methods across sitting, standing and walking conditions. Our results suggest that SoftCuts not only are appreciated by participants but also support rapid command selection with different devices and hand configurations. We also did not find evidence that walking deters their performance when using the Once input method. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction techniques.

Towards a Unified and Efficient Command Selection Mechanism for Touch-Based Devices Using Soft Keyboard Hotkeys

“…What immediately strikes with these implementations is that there are neither consistent input methods to activate the command-selection mode nor consistent visual representation of the keys when the command-selection mode has been activated. A recent study demonstrated that the input method 'Once' (which relies on two sequential taps) is faster than holding (User Maintained) or swiping (Swipe) the modifier key across device configurations and mobility conditions [21]. However, this work only focuses on input methods and has yet to investigate the visual representation, discoverability or retention performance.…”

“…While SoftCuts have been implemented on some commercial products, very little research was specifically conducted on them. To the best of our knowledge, the paper from Fennedy et al [21] remains the only work specifically focused on SoftCuts to this date. Their work, however, focuses on comparing the performance and adoption of different input methods under different size (phone or tablet) and handling (one-handed or two-handed) conditions.…”

“…As pointed in previous work [21], implementations of SoftCuts on Microsoft Surface and Samsung Tabs use different visual layouts to show commands on the keys of the soft-keyboard. Samsung simply highlights the key associated with a command, while Microsoft Surface provides the name of the command in addition to the letter name.…”

“…Samsung simply highlights the key associated with a command, while Microsoft Surface provides the name of the command in addition to the letter name. In addition, Fennedy et al [21] used a representation combining an icon and the name of the command of the key. We thus first decided to investigate the visual representations and understand which representation is preferred.…”

“…Both use different selection mechanisms and visual representation of shortcuts. Recent work by Fennedy et al [21] investigated three different input methods for SoftCuts. They suggested that Once, a method relying on two sequential taps was overall a better choice compared to User-Maintained (holding on one key while tapping on a second key, like for desktop keyboard shortcuts) or Swipe (sliding gestures).…”