Contact Area Interaction with Sliding Widgets

Summary:
The problem with todays touchscreens are that they are based off of a mouse and cursor system which allows access to only single pixel selections. This makes the selecting of buttons difficult when multiple buttons are present. The solution to this is to design a selection region rather than single pixel selection. This would resolve the ambiguity as to which button is selected. By using a selection region the width of allowable interaction with the button is increased. The problem with wider controls is that it would limit the interactivity on devices with small surface area. Sliding buttons are the propsed solution to both of these problems (also known as Fat Finger Problem). When using sliding buttons every button would respond to the touch of a single button near it. Some of the advantages of an area based selection such as sliding widgets: allows easy targetting of small targets, removes ambiguity since everything responds to the fingers touch, resilient to parallax errors (hitting the wrong button), compatible with drag based interaction widgets, allows manipulation of multiple controls at the same time, and the contact information (size and shape of touch on screen) can be used. The biggest disadvantage is that it is possible to select multiple buttons when the user only wishes to select one. This requires another disambiguation mechanism.

Sliding buttons can also have multiple meanings to the same screen area. This means that the user touching a spot on the screen, and then dragging left could mean something different than touching a spot on the screen and dragging right. This also allows the designers to associate a direction with a meaning (flick left for foward and flick right for backward). Sliding buttons are a promising solution for improved accuracy on small targets on a touch screen, but require more thinking and designing to implement correctly.

Discussion:
This paper was interestig because it touches on a subject which is very important in the advancement of technology. With all of the new Ipods/Phones coming out that use this technology it is imperative that advancements with accuracy and ease of use be made in this area. The problems with the sliding buttons solution are that they are far more complex than regular buttons are because all the buttons respond to the touch. I believe that the next step in this field is going to be a way to make the implementation of sliding buttons easier.