Overcoming the Lack of Screen Space on Mobile Computers

One difficulty for interface design on mobile computers is lack of screen space caused by their small size. This paper describes a small pilot study and two formal experiments that investigate the usability of sonicallyenhanced buttons of different sizes. The underlying hypothesis being that presenting information about the buttons in sound would increase their usability and allow their size to be reduced. An experimental interface was created that ran on a 3Com Palm III mobile computer and used a simple calculator-style interface to enter data. The buttons of the calculator were changed in size between 4x4, 8x8 and 16x16 pixels and used a range of different types of sound from basic to complex. Results showed that sounds significantly improved usability for both standard and small button sizes

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: PUC
• Authors: Stephen A. Brewster
• Keywords: Buttons, Mobile Computers, PUC 2002, Usability