Superiority of Freehand Pointing

Abstract

There is a possibility that computer mice may be replaced with eye-gaze or touchscreen technologies. Hence, it is imperative that we investigate the effect of the type of input device in conditions having lateral constraints. A set of tracks with different levels of difficulty were tested. The type of device had little influence on movement time for ballistic steering tasks, while movement time was affected by the type of device used in visually controlled steering tasks. It was also found that resting the forearm increased movement time. Subjective evaluations indicated that control is easier with freehand pointing. Considering both comfort and performance it appears that freehand pointing, when resting the forearm, is optimal for a touchscreen.

Targeted-Tracking With Pointing Devices

“…The two models of (1) and (3) have been widely used in user interface design [12], [13], input device evaluation [11], [14], [15], and virtual environment evaluations [16], [17]. In those applications, the reciprocal of gradients in visual control models, as given in (5) and (6), are known as the index of performance (IP)…”

“…The angle of the touch screen was 60°upward from horizontal. These are also the optimal settings for mouse and touchscreen [14], [38].…”