T-Bars: towards tactile user interfaces for mobile touchscreens

  • Authors:
  • Malcolm Hall;Eve Hoggan;Stephen Brewster

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Human computer interaction with mobile devices and services
  • Year:
  • 2008

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Mobile device user interface elements tend to be based on desktop widgets that were not originally intended for small screen finger-based interfaces. Mobile usage scenarios afford many completely different interactions, so should be designed accordingly. This paper presents a new type of widget, the T-Bar, designed specifically for finger-based touchscreen interfaces using tactile feedback. Using the tactile feedback for orientation, the user's fingertip is guided along the T-Bar until an item is successfully selected. This paper offers observations on our finger-based touchscreen widget and two applications of the T-Bar widget. Both, File-o-Feel and Touch 'n' Twist are multi-touch information browsing applications that deviate from traditional desktop GUI paradigms and are tailored for fingertip input where all interaction takes place through the use of T-Bars; eliminating the need for any other widgets.