Abstract
Introduction
Experiment
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References
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A Tail of Two Mice
Introduction
Background
Scientist, Douglas Engelbert, of the Stanford Research Institute, invented the computer mouse in 1968. Since then, the point-and-click method grown into the primary way to manipulate the user interface. Especially in the last ten years, the explosion of Internet usage has almost demanded the use of the mouse to navigate. The mouse is important for the World Wide Web because of the Web's hypertext environment. The mouse pointer can be quickly directed to any place on the screen, giving the user maximum flexibility. Other important mouse tasks include executing commands from the toolbar and viewing pop-up menus with the right mouse button. However, the important task of viewing long documents by using the scrollbar at the far right of the screen, or by rolling the scroll wheel will be examined in detail.
Previous Work
"Dual Stream Input for Pointing and Scrolling" is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in studying the performance of different input devices. This study actually tested four different devices against one another. These four devices were a conventional mouse, a mouse with a scroll wheel, a mouse with a trackpoint, and a two handed system. The two handed system used a trackpoint on the keyboard and a conventional mouse for the other hand. Similar to our experiment, this one had users looking for a particular link on a page that took them to the next step of the test. Their experiment consisted of going through a series of 10 web pages. We changed our experiment to have three separate sections so that we could test the learning curve of the scroll mouse, and not just how it compared to a conventional mouse. The results of their experiment yielded that the scroll mouse was actually slower than the conventional mouse.Current Products
The issue: which style(s) of the mouse are the fastest, most effective, and easiest to use? After all, many versions of mice exist. They have designs ranging from one-button to five-button design. According to Shneiderman's Designing the User Interface (3rd Edition), Apple Macintosh uses the one-button design, Microsoft uses the two-button design, and Sun Microsystems uses the three-button design. In addition to buttons, mice may have various scrolling wheel devices. A 'scrolling wheel' is a mouse device that allows users to scroll through the current window without having to click or drag the window's arrow bar. Popular scroll wheel mice include the Microsoft Intellimouse and the Logitech FirstMouse Plus. However, we will primarily focus on mice with or without the scroll wheel.Relevance of the Experiment
First and foremost, mouse and/or typing misuse can lead to serious complications. Much study has been done on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). CTS is a condition which results when the median nerve does not work properly. Usually, this is thought to occur because there is too much pressure on the nerve as it runs into the wrist through an opening called the carpal tunnel. Because of this potentially serious complication, reducing the strain on the wrist during mouse use is extremely important. Non-scroll mice require users to possess a good amount of cognitive motor abilities, especially for long usage. The mouse must be gripped tightly, and the user must look back and forth between the text of the document and the scroll bar on the right. If their hand slips, the document may shift to an undesired location, and the scroll process may have to begin again. Furthermore, keeping the cursor at a certain spot on the scroll bar may distract the user from the task and may be tiring. Thus, investigating faster yet safer mouse tools is crucial.The relevance of this topic spreads beyond medical issues. Simply, we use the mouse so much. For example, let us consider an e-mail system. Realistically, the inbox or various folders may contain numerous messages. Suppose users want to search for a specific message with a non-scroll mouse. They would have to constantly press the 'down arrow' button on the scroll bar while searching. Every so often, the users must stop searching to check if the cursor is still on the arrow. And if their hand slips, they may find themselves at an unwanted location in the list. Our research team has definitely gone through some of these toils. Applications like search queries on the Internet, traversing choices in form fill-ins, and countless other software applications that include scrolling are potentially frustrating and time consuming to scroll through. Hand-in-hand with time issues come error rates. After extended usage of the mouse, the hand may tire, increasing the likelihood of an error. For instance, using the arrow keys on the scroll bar requires that the mouse be gripped tightly and kept unmoved. This strain reduces concentration, which may entail considerable repercussions when a class grade or job is at stake.
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