Towards accessible touch interfaces

Touch screen mobile devices bear the promise of endless leisure, communication, and productivity opportunities to motor-impaired people. Indeed, users with residual capacities in their upper extremities could benefit immensely from a device with no demands regarding strength. However, the precision required to effectively select a target without physical cues creates problems to people with limited motor abilities. Our goal is to thoroughly study mobile touch screen interfaces, their characteristics and parameterizations, thus providing the tools for informed interface design for motor-impaired users. We present an evaluation performed with 15 tetraplegic people that allowed us to understand the factors limiting user performance within a comprehensive set of interaction techniques (Tapping, Crossing, Exiting and Directional Gesturing) and parameterizations (Position, Size and Direction). Our results show that for each technique, accuracy and precision vary across different areas of th...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: ASSETS
• Authors: Tiago João Guerreiro, Hugo Nicolau, Joaquim A. Jorge, Daniel Gonçalves
• Keywords: ASSETS 2010, Emerging Technology, Interaction Techniques, Mobile Device, Touch Screen