Touch Usability

Touchscreens at the Clever Dog Lab

At the Clever Dog Lab in Vienna, researchers use a "computer-automated touchscreen testing procedure for studying learning, social, and physical cognition in the dog."

I learned about this in a radio documentary called King Solomon's Ring from CBC's Ideas show (you can find the audio here: Ideas podcast or on iTunes). The documentary was about ethology -- the study of animal behavior, and about Konrad Lorenz, one of the field's founders. King Solomon's Ring is also the name of a classic book by Lorenz.

The dogs use their noses to activate the touchscreen, and apparently dogs do it well but it takes some instruction. I'm guessing it's a little like touchscreen usability studies with humans, but with more screen wipes. From the page for dog owners interested in participating:

We employ the computer-automated touch-screen testing procedure to study physical cognitive abilities (knowledge of how the physical world works). But first of all, it is necessary to find out whether dogs behave similarly when they are confronted with a similar problem in reality and on the screen.

From previous studies we know that dogs are able to find a hidden object even if considerable time has passed since they witnessed the hiding event. Dogs also show typical errors in their searching behaviour when a human experimenter hides the object. Thus, in this project, we want to investigate whether dogs can solve a hide-and-seek task on the touch-screen and whether they have similar error patterns on the touch-screen as in reality. I test the dogs’ performance in ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ (Touch-screen) conditions. In the virtual condition, I test them either with or without the presence of a hiding agent.

Dogs need a considerable amount of time to learn to work with the touch-screen. For optimal learning performance they and they owners should visit the lab at least once a week. A training occasion consists of 2-4 sessions. Each session has 29 trials. The auto feeder gives a dog a dry food pellet for every correct trial so a dog gets maximum 120 pellets per training occasion (altogether a small cup of dry food). A training occasion for a dog last from half an hour to one hour.

You can see a video of a dog doing a test at LiveScience, from a 2007 article: Dogs Do Well On Computers.

The lab has a web page showcasing some of their most enthusiastic study participants: Computer Freaks.

Back-of-device interaction on tablets

More back-of-device touch interaction: Wacom's Cintiq tablet has touch-sensitive strips that let you control brush size, zooming, scrolling and canvas rotation.

Link: product page (via Gizmodo).

I love this idea and expect we'll be seeing a lot more like it soon.

This reminds me of steering wheel radio controls. I had a 2002 Mini Cooper that had the volume and tuning rocker switches on the back of the two spokes. You couldn't see them but you could easily operate them with your fingertips while your hands were on the wheel. I think the newer Minis have all the buttons on the front. I wonder if there was a discoverability problem. Do other cars have that back-of-the-wheel design for these buttons?

What would you like to see in a presentation on gesture usability?

In May I'll be giving a 30-minute presentation at UPA 2010 about evaluating (touch) gesture usability. It'll be based somewhat on material that I posted here previously -- part 1, part 2. If you're interested in this topic, I'd be grateful if you'd take a minute and send me your thoughts on what you'd like to see in such a presentation. What would be most useful? What questions do you have about evaluating gestures? I'll do my best to incorporate any suggestions. Thanks.

Jakob Nielsen on iPhone App Usability

Jakob Nielsen's latest article is about iPhone usability: iPhone Apps Need Low Starting Hurdle. The summary:

Most mobile applications are used only intermittently, so they must be especially easy during initial use. In particular, upfront registration shouldn't be required before users experience an app's benefits.

The Nielsen Norman Group is also offering an iPhone app design seminar.

MOTO's simple touchscreen stress test

MOTO labs has posted a good article discussing touchscreen accuracy. They describe a simple line-drawing test you can do on touchscreens: DIY Touchscreen analysis. The basic ideas is to slowly draw diagonal lines in a drawing program, and then watch how linear the result is. They also look at edge performance.

Of course this is just one part of the picture -- there are other measures of accuracy and responsiveness (this doesn't say much about touch-down/lift-off accuracy, for instance). And as MOTO points out, the touch sensor is just one factor among many that contributes to quality. They sum up with some dos and don'ts:

MOTO has worked with capacitive touch interfaces for more than 15 years, and here are some essential dos and don’ts for anyone entering the field:

• Don’t skimp on materials. With touchscreen hardware, manufacturers get what they pay for — and consumers will notice the difference.
• Allow ample time to develop your algorithms. Don’t treat touchscreen algorithms as an element of component sourcing; for best results, create a distinct touch development track under your own roof to make sure your products are both responsive and accurate.
• Closely integrate touchscreen hardware, software, and user interaction development, and do so as early as possible in the product development process. Never treat them as separate tasks.

Link: DIY Touchscreen analysis (via Engadget).

Motorola Backflip with back-of-device interaction

It looks like Motorola is the first to put "back-of-device interaction" into production. That's an idea that HCI researchers including Patrick Baudisch have demonstrated in the past few years (see his nano touch page for details). Putting a touchpad on the back of a device gets your fingers out of the way of the screen and gives potential for more precise interaction as well as new types of gestures.

More at Slashgear and Engadget. (Images from Slashgear.)

p.s. I should have mentioned that the Fuse concept phone also implements this idea (albeit in a prototype). Fuse is a collaboration between Synaptics, TheAlloy, TAT, Immersion, and Texas Instruments: press release, Engadget's coverage.

International Research Study about Touch Gestures

Several usability companies under the banner of International Usability Partners have conducted a major user research study about touchscreen gestures in different cultures. The research was presented at the recent Human Factors and Ergonomics Society conference among other places. Dan Mauney of HumanCentric is blogging about the study at HumanCentric's blog. So far the posts have presented the background and test protocols. Future posts will report on the results. From the first post:

Very few studies appear in the literature on the identification and understandability of gestures on touchscreens.  It is truly an emerging convention. Even fewer, and perhaps even none, have studied the identification and understandability of gestures across cultures.  Yet, many of the products that enable gestures will be intended for a global audience.  Designers have a definite need to know how understandable gestures are, and how universal they are, while the field is still young.

The International Usability Partners (IUP) has run a global study aimed at identifying the most common user-generated gestures for control of a touchscreen within a given country and across cultures.  The (IUP) is an established network of 12 independent usability companies based in 12 different countries (including Belgium, China, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK, and USA) who have joined  to provide user experience services worldwide. This research involved collecting user-defined gestures for 28 common commands (like scroll, open, rotate, zoom in, cut, copy, paste) across 9 different countries and analyzing the resultant data for consistency of responses and cultural influence. 40 participants in each country were presented with a “before” screen image and an “after” screen image and requested to make a gesture that will result in that “after” screen image. The gesture made was recorded and catalogued.

Link to all the posts: Gesture Research.

It's very interesting work and I'm looking forward to reading all the results.

IUP also has a new group blog on this theme: TouchThinking.

Bill Buxton on the Mad Dash Toward Touch Technology

Interrupting my blog neglect to point you to this must-read column by Bill Buxton: The Mad Dash Toward Touch Technology. He offers a good dose of realism and some thoughts about true innovation.

iPhone App Heuristics

Suzanne Ginsburg is adapting Jakob Nielsen's usability heuristics to the new world of iPhone apps: iPhone App Usability Heuristics. It's a work in progress and she invites suggestions.

Report from Workshop on Touch Affordances

The organizers have posted a report summarizing the one-day Workshop on Touch Affordances that was held with Interact 2009: Workshop overview report.