TractorBeam selection aids: improving target acquisition for pointing input on tabletop displays

Authors:
J. Karen Parker;Regan L. Mandryk;Michael N. Nunes;Kori M. Inkpen
Affiliations:
Faculty of Comp. Sci., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada;School of Comp. Sci., Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada;Faculty of Comp. Sci., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada;Faculty of Comp. Sci., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Venue:
INTERACT'05 Proceedings of the 2005 IFIP TC13 international conference on Human-Computer Interaction
Year:
2005

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Abstract

This paper presents a comparison of several selection aids to improve pointing input on tabletop displays. Our previous research explored the TractorBeam–a hybrid point-touch interaction technique for tabletop displays. We found that while pointing input was preferred (over touch) by users of tabletop displays, it was slower for small distant targets. Drawing from previous work on improving target acquisition for desktop displays, we developed and tested three selection aids to improve pointing selection of small distant targets on tabletop displays: expanding the cursor, expanding the target, and snapping to the target. Our experiments revealed that all three aids resulted in faster selection times than no selection aid at all, with snapping to the target being the fastest. Additionally, participants liked snapping to the target better than the other selection aids and found it to be the most effective for selecting targets.