Supporting Transitions To Expertise In Hidden Toolbars
Date
2019-03-10
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Hidden toolbars are becoming common on mobile devices. These techniques maximize the space available for application content by keeping tools off-screen until needed. However, current designs require several actions to make a selection, and they do not provide shortcuts for users who have become familiar with the toolbar. To better understand the performance capabilities and tradeoffs involved in hidden toolbars, we outline a design space that captures the key elements of these controls and report on an empirical evaluation of four designs. Two of our designs provide shortcuts that are based on the user’s spatial memory of item locations. The study found that toolbars with spatial-memory shortcuts had significantly better performance (700ms faster) than standard designs currently in use. Participants quickly learned the shortcut selection method (although switching to a memory-based method led to higher error rates than the visually-guided techniques). Participants strongly preferred one of the shortcut methods that allowed selections by swiping across the screen bezel at the location of the desired item. This work shows that shortcut techniques are feasible and desirable on touch devices and shows that spatial memory can provide a foundation for designing shortcuts.
Description
Keywords
Human Computer Interaction, Interaction Techniques, Toolbars, Expertise, Spatial Memory
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Computer Science
Program
Computer Science