COMPUTER - Keys arranged in alphabetic order

- Not faster for trained typists

A ‘typical’ computer system - Not faster for beginners either!
- Screen, or monitor, on which there are windows Dvorak
- Keyboard - Common letters under dominant fingers
- Mouse/trackpad - Biased towards right hand
- Variations - Common combinations of letters alternate between
 Desktop hands
 Laptop - 10-15% improvement in speed and reduction in
 PDA fatigue
- But – large social base of QWERTY typists produces
market pressures not to change

Special Keyboards
The devices dictate the styles of interaction that the system - Designs to reduce fatigue for RSI
supports. - For one handed use, e.g. the Maltron left-handed
If we use different devices, then the interface will support a keyboard
different style of interaction

TEXT ENTRY DEVICES

Keyboards (QWERTY et al.)
Chord keyboards, phone pads, handwriting, speech

KEYBOARDS
- Most common text input device
- Allows rapid entry of text by experienced users
- Keypress closes connection, causing a character code
to be sent
Chord Keyboards
- Usually connected by cable, but can be wireless
- only a few keys - four or 5
LAYOUT – QWERTY
- letters typed as combination of keypresses
 Standardized layout but…
- compact size - ideal for portable applications
- Non-alphanumeric keys are placed differently
- short learning time - keypresses reflect letter shape
- Accented symbols needed for different scripts
- fast - once you have trained
- Minor differences between UK and USA keyboards
BUT - social resistance, plus fatigue after extended use
 QWERTY arrangement not optimal for
NEW – niche market for some wearables
typing
- Layout to prevent typewriters jamming!
 Alternative designs allow faster typing but
large social base of QWERTY typists
produces reluctance to change.

Phone pad and T9 entry

• use numeric keys with multiple presses
ALTERNATIVE KEYBOARD LAYOUTS 2–abc6-mno
Alphabetic
3-def7-pqrs The Mouse
4-ghi8-tuv • Handheld pointing device - very common, easy to use
5-jkl9-wxyz DTwo characteristics
hello = • planar movement
4433555[pause]555666 • buttons (usually from 1 to 3 buttons on top, used for making
surprisingly fast! a selection, indicating an option, or to initiate drawing etc.)
• T9 predictive entry
• type as if single key for each
letter
• use dictionary to ‘guess’ the
right word
• hello = 43556 …
• but 26 -> menu ‘am’ or ‘an’
How does it work?
Handwriting recognition Two methods for detecting motion
• Text can be input into the computer, using a pen and a Mechanical
digesting tablet • Ball on underside of mouse turns as mouse is moved
• natural interaction • Rotates orthogonal potentiometers
• Technical problems: • Can be used on almost any flat surface
• capturing all useful information - stroke path, pressure, etc. Optical
in a natural manner • light emitting diode on underside of mouse
• segmenting joined up writing into individual letters • may use special grid-like pad or just on desk
• interpreting individual letters • less susceptible to dust and dirt
• coping with different styles of handwriting
• Used in PDAs, and tablet computers …
… leave the keyboard on the desk!

Speech recognition
• Improving rapidly
• Most successful when:
• single user – initial training and learns peculiarities
• limited vocabulary systems Touchpad
• Problems with • small touch sensitive tablets
• external noise interfering • ‘stroke’ to move mouse pointer
• imprecision of pronunciation • used mainly in laptop computers
• large vocabularies • good ‘acceleration’ settings important
• different speakers o fast stroke
 lots of pixels per inch moved
Numeric keypads  initial movement to the target
• for entering numbers quickly: o slow stroke
• calculator, PC keyboard  less pixels per inch
• for telephones  for accurate positioning
not the same!! Touch-sensitive screen
ATM like phone Detect the presence of finger or stylus on the screen.
• works by interrupting matrix of light beams, capacitance
changes or ultrasonic reflections
• direct pointing device
Advantages:
• fast, and requires no specialized pointer
• good for menu selection
• suitable for use in hostile environment: clean and safe from
damage.

Disadvantages:
• finger can mark screen
• imprecise (finger is a fairly blunt instrument!)
Positioning, pointing and drawing
o difficult to select small regions or perform accurate
mouse, touchpad
trackballs, joysticks etc. drawing
touch screens, tablets • lifting arm can be tiring
eyegaze, cursors
Stylus and light pen
Stylus • Electromagnetic fields (50Hz-0.5MHz). Create induction
• small pen-like pointer to draw directly on screen currents in conductive materials, including the human body.
• may use touch sensitive surface or magnetic detection Two types of effects attributed to this: visual system - high
• used in PDA, tablets PCs and drawing tables incidence of cataracts in VDU operators, and concern over
Light Pen reproductive disorders (miscarriages and birth
• now rarely used defects).
• uses light from screen to detect location
BOTH … Liquid Crystal Displays
• very direct and obvious to use • Smaller, lighter, and … no radiation problems.
• but can obscure screen • Found on PDAs, portables and notebooks,
… and increasingly on desktop and even for home
Eyegaze TV
• control interface by eye gaze direction • also used in dedicted displays: digital watches, mobile
e.g. look at a menu item to select it phones, HiFi controls
• uses laser beam reflected off retina Large Displays
… a very low power laser! • used for meetings, lectures, etc.
• mainly used for evaluation (ch x) • technology
• potential for hands-free control plasma – usually wide screen
• high accuracy requires headset video walls – lots of small screens together
• cheaper and lower accuracy devices available sit under the projected – RGB lights or LCD projector
screen like a small webcam – hand/body obscures screen
– may be solved by 2 projectors + clever
Cursor keys software
• Four keys (up, down, left, right) on keyboard. back-projected
• Very, very cheap, but slow. – frosted glass + projector behind
• Useful for not much more than basic motion for text-editing Situated Displays
tasks.  displays in ‘public’ places
• No standardised layout, but inverted “T”, most common o large or small
o very public or for small group
 display only
o for information relevant to location
 or interactive
o use stylus, touch sensitive screem
 in all cases … the location matters
o meaning of information or interaction is related to
Display Devices
the location
(bitmap screens (CRT & LCD), large & situated displays,
Digital Paper
digital paper)
what?
Bitmap Displays
 thin flexible sheets
• screen is vast number
of coloured dots  updated electronically
 but retain display
how?
 small spheres turned
 or channels with coloured liquid and contrasting spheres
Cathode ray tube  rapidly developing area
• Stream of electrons emitted from electron gun, focused and
directed by magnetic fields, hit phosphor-coated screen which
glows
• used in TVs and computer monitors

Health hazards of CRT !

• X-rays: largely absorbed by screen (but not at rear!)
• UV- and IR-radiation from phosphors: insignificant levels
• Radio frequency emissions, plus ultrasound (~16kHz)
• Electrostatic field - leaks out through tube to user. Intensity
dependant on distance and humidity. Can cause rashes.