Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!paperboy!yee From: yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: Touchscreens Message-ID: Date: 14 Jun 91 15:14:40 GMT References: <8435@awdprime.UUCP> <6460@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> <1991Jun13.235714.17297@cs.UAlberta.CA> Sender: news@OSF.ORG Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 22 In-reply-to: cdshaw@cs.UAlberta.CA's message of 13 Jun 91 23:57:14 GMT In article <1991Jun13.235714.17297@cs.UAlberta.CA> cdshaw@cs.UAlberta.CA (Chris Shaw) writes: > >A number of touch screens do not actually require that their surface be > >touched but humans seem to love to jam their fingertips forward. > > This is because constrained selection is easier than unconstrained > selection. Using a 3D technique to select a 2D object is silly. > The tactile feedback is useful, also. Ahh, tactile feedback... This is my biggest complaint against touchscreens. There are no tactile feedback on any of the touchscreens I have seen. Even though a mouse is an indirect input device (i.e. moving the mouse moves the pointer on the screen), at least a mouse has REAL buttons. Touchscreens can ONLY provide visual and audio feedback. I think audio and visual feedback are great feedback mechanisms, but they are no replacement for the tactile feedback of a real button. =Mike -- == Michael K. Yee -+- OSF/Motif Team == Open Software Foundation - 11 Cambridge Center - Cambridge, MA 02142 == "Live simply, so that others may simply live."