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From: ariel@mom.intel.com (Ariel Shattan)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Track ball on a keyboard?
Message-ID: <1782@gandalf.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jun 91 22:19:47 GMT
References: <6450@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> <1991Jun12.155623.15673@wpi.WPI.EDU>
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Doug Jones lists the proper size for a trackball to accomplish 
fluid motion.  

I've used both track balls and mice, and I've discovered that track
balls are very good for positioning, but bad for selecting.  I think
this is because my hands are small, so that the relationship between
my hand motion and the track ball carries my hand relatively farther 
from the select button.  The track ball I used had select buttons
on both sides: one to click, and one to click and hold, but it 
wasn't that easy to remember which button I needed, and clicking
and holding the click button (while trying to move the track ball)
was really hard for my poor little hand.

I've also tried briefly the isopointer on Outbound's Mac portable
(mentioned by Sue <mfplgrgl>). I like the location of this pointer:
right under the space bar.  It's easy to click.  But, it definitely
leads to an "Etch-a-Sketch" sort of straight line behavior, especially
when you're trying to click, hold, and move with one thumb all at the
same time.

I guess my preference is still arrow/hjkl keys for small motions
while typing a document (yes, they're tedious, but they're precise),
and mouse for large movements within a text document, and for 
graphics.  When I encounter an application that lets me combine
text and graphics without this silly "pick the tool" interface,
then I'll worry more about getting a good pointer for both uses.

--Ariel Shattan
  ariel@littlei.intel.com