Crossing-based interfaces
Encyclopedia
Crossing-based interfaces are graphical user interface
s that use crossing gestures instead of, or in complement to, pointing
.
Goal crossing has been little investigated, despite sometimes being used on today's interfaces (e.g., mouse-over effects, hierarchical menus navigation, auto-retractable taskbars and hot corners). Still, several advantages of crossing over pointing have been identified:
There are several other ways of triggering actions in user interfaces, either graphic (gestures
) and non-graphic (keyboard shortcuts, speech commands
).
have been described for goal-crossing tasks (Accot and Zhai 2002). Fitts' law is seen as a Law of pointing, describing variability in the direction of the pointer's movement. The Law of crossing describes the allowed variability in the direction perpendicular to movement, and the steering law describes movement along a tunnel.
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
s that use crossing gestures instead of, or in complement to, pointing
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
.
Goal-crossing tasks
A pointing task involves moving a cursor inside a graphical object and pressing a button, whereas a goal-crossing task involves moving a cursor beyond a boundary of a targeted graphical object.Goal crossing has been little investigated, despite sometimes being used on today's interfaces (e.g., mouse-over effects, hierarchical menus navigation, auto-retractable taskbars and hot corners). Still, several advantages of crossing over pointing have been identified:
- Elongated objects such as hyperlinks are faster to cross than to point.
- Several objects can be crossed at the same time within the same gestureMouse gestureIn computing, a pointing device gesture or mouse gesture is a way of combining pointing device movements and clicks which the software recognizes as a specific command. Pointing device gestures can provide quick access to common functions of a program. They can also be useful for people who have...
. - Crossing allows triggering actions when buttons are not available (e.g., while an object is being draggedDrag-and-dropIn computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...
). - Crossing-based widgets can be designed to be more compact than pointing-based ones. This may be useful for small display devices.
- Goal crossing is particularly natural on stylusStylus (computing)In computing, a stylus is a small pen-shaped instrument that is used to input commands to a computer screen, mobile device or graphics tablet...
-based devices. On these devices, crossing an object back and forth is easier than double-clicking. - Crossing can be a good alternative for users who have difficulties with clicking or double-clicking.
There are several other ways of triggering actions in user interfaces, either graphic (gestures
Mouse gesture
In computing, a pointing device gesture or mouse gesture is a way of combining pointing device movements and clicks which the software recognizes as a specific command. Pointing device gestures can provide quick access to common functions of a program. They can also be useful for people who have...
) and non-graphic (keyboard shortcuts, speech commands
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
).
Laws of crossing
Variants of Fitts' lawFitts' law
Fitts's law is a model of human movement primarily used in human–computer interaction and ergonomics that predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target...
have been described for goal-crossing tasks (Accot and Zhai 2002). Fitts' law is seen as a Law of pointing, describing variability in the direction of the pointer's movement. The Law of crossing describes the allowed variability in the direction perpendicular to movement, and the steering law describes movement along a tunnel.
See also
- Fitts Law — A principle of human movement which predicts the time required to move from a starting position to a final target area.
- Accot-Zhai steering lawAccot-Zhai steering lawThe steering law in human–computer interaction and ergonomics is a predictive model of human movement that describes the time required to navigate, or steer, through a 2-dimensional tunnel. The tunnel can be thought of as a path or trajectory on a plane that has an associated thickness or width,...
— An extension of Fitt's law to steering tasks. - Interaction techniqueInteraction techniqueAn interaction technique, user interface technique or input technique is a combination of hardware and software elements that provides a way for computer users to accomplish a single task. For example, one can go back to the previously visited page on a Web browser by either clicking a button,...
- Pie menuPie menuIn computer interface design, a pie menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus input, and well with a mouse...
External links
- Laws of Action by Shumin Zhai
- CrossY interface by Apitz and Guimbretière
- Dragicevic's Fold'n'Drop technique
- Don't Click It - A clickless proof-of-concept interface