TouchCuts and TouchZoom: Enhanced Target Selection for Touch Displays using Finger Proximity Sensing

AbstractAlthough touch-screen laptops are increasing in popularity, users still do not comfortably rely on touch in these environments, as current software interfaces were not designed for being used by the finger. In this paper, we first demonstrate the benefits of using touch as a complementary input modality along with the keyboard and mouse or touchpad in a laptop setting. To alleviate the frustration users experience with touch, we then design two techniques, Touch-Cuts, a single target expansion technique, and TouchZoom, a multiple target expansion technique. Both techniques facilitate the selection of small icons, by detecting the finger proximity above the display surface, and expanding the target as the finger approaches. In a controlled evaluation, we show that our techniques improve performance in comparison to both the computer mouse and a baseline touchbased target acquisition technique. We conclude by discussing other application scenarios that our techniques support.