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10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

10gui.com

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Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#41

Post by catch23 »

inffcs00 wrote: post #14
CWuestefeld wrote: post #9

That's cool as far as it goes. But what about the keyboard? The mouse is just one aspect of the computer interaction. I can't remove my keyboard from my desk just to make room for this mouse replacement. The keyboard seems a big barrier (literally!) for getting this device on the desktop.

At the end of the video you can see the multitouch device integrated with a keyboard. :)

it seems like the touch system should be able detect where your main 4 fingers are, and then show a rough virtual keyboard in its space with your 8 fingers on the home row automatically. The only thing lacking would be tactile feedback, but that's solvable. If people are accustomed to seeing the 10 dots representing the fingers, it should be easy to provide small visual cues to indicate if you're about to type a letter that isn't what you want.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#42

Post by mjgoins »

RevRal wrote: post #34
tc wrote: post #15

While we're rethinking the human interface, could we please stop staggering typing keys and put frequently used keys like carriage return and backspace under strong fingers? [1] I was disappointed to see at the end of the 10gui video a concept keyboard with staggered keys and with backspace way over in the corner. If we can't move keyboards past the constraints imposed by mechanical typewriters, what hope do we have…

Colemak layout turns your caps lock into a backspace. This works surprisingly well, but I really wish the spacebar was split in half. And I've always felt shift+spacebar should = backspace.

I use a keyboard with Control where Caps Lock would be on most keyboards (a sun unix keyboard). That combined with the fact that Control-H is backspace in a standard unix environment means I don't have to reach for the backspace key.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#43

Post by lief79 »

TimothyFitz wrote: post #28

This basically already exist(ed): http://www.fingerworks.com/ST_product.html Apple bought them up and stopped making their products (but we got multitouch on the iPhone, an interesting trade-off).

I had interned with Fingerworks prior to the formal release of the project. The main problem I heard about was the demand cost/issues.

Outside of the proposed UI changes, Fingerworks product did all of this. I still wish I had bought one when I had the chance.

Anyway, if they are serious about getting these made, I believe University of Delaware owns a fair amount of Wayne Westerman's patents, as the basic idea was the premise for his doctorate. He was a professor starting in '99, so that should make them easier to locate.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#44

Post by lief79 »

tc wrote: post #15

While we're rethinking the human interface, could we please stop staggering typing keys and put frequently used keys like carriage return and backspace under strong fingers? [1] I was disappointed to see at the end of the 10gui video a concept keyboard with staggered keys and with backspace way over in the corner. If we can't move keyboards past the constraints imposed by mechanical typewriters, what hope do we have…

Not sure about the final released product, but the fingerworks prototypes were completely customizable.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#45

Post by lief79 »

NathanKP wrote: post #20
zacechola wrote: post #19

I'd like to see it with the pad acting as the keyboard, too. though, that's more software implementation, while the video is talking hardware interface. Although, the problem with that kind of implementation is that it doesn't have the tactile feel of a keyboard. however, iPhone users seem to have acclimated after first bitching about it.

I personally think that a real physical keyboard will always be preferred. 10Gui is doing the right thing by putting the keyboard above the multi-touch pad.

http://www.fingerworks.com/faq.html

Apparently people could get up to 70 wpm with what could be considered the prior version of this.

For what it is worth, at least when I was involved with it, most people found a keyboard a lot easier to use for rapid typing.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#46

Post by [deleted] »

joe_the_user wrote: post #30
gecko wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without disagreeing, I also don't think it makes sense to discount potentially massive improvements in user interfaces merely because a portion of the population cannot use them.

No, but his problem actually points to this being a problem for anyone. It becomes a problem when the machine requires all of my dexterity just to accomplish a given task. I dislike all Apple products specifically because they require mouse operations to accomplish things where Linux and MS interfaces tend to have keyboard shortcuts.

[deleted]

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#47

Post by andreyf »

joe_the_user wrote: post #30
gecko wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without disagreeing, I also don't think it makes sense to discount potentially massive improvements in user interfaces merely because a portion of the population cannot use them.

No, but his problem actually points to this being a problem for anyone. It becomes a problem when the machine requires all of my dexterity just to accomplish a given task. I dislike all Apple products specifically because they require mouse operations to accomplish things where Linux and MS interfaces tend to have keyboard shortcuts.

In my experience, OSX has much better thought-out keyboard shortcuts than Windows does. A simple example: you'd like to force-kill the focused application. In OSX, you type command-option-esc (one hand), return, return (other hand). I don't know what it is in Vita, but in XP, it would require quite a bit of mousework.

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#48

Post by viraptor »

gjm11 wrote: post #21
mhb wrote: post #6

tl;dw 30 seconds in and they haven't shown it yet?

It's worse than that. The first time they say anything about their interface is at about 2:00. That's extremely vague (it's a multitouch sensor! where your mouse would be!). No more specifics until about 4:00 (windows are arranged in only one dimension). They don't actually show the damn thing until 4:45. Oh, and all accompanied by the Most Annoying Music In The World.

I understand you don't read many typical research papers? (5% abstract, 15% introduction, 15% history and justification, then comes the real meat...) I seriously felt like reading another HCI journal while watching this - almost the same structure :)

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#49

Post by raintrees »

Semiapies wrote: post #18

Talk about multi-touch reminds me of a friend's perennial complaint, "The future of interfaces seems designed to screw me over." He has a congenital deformity of the arms, but he can type (and is one of those clacky-IBM keyboard fetishists). With his feet, he can use mice and controllers. But multi-touch systems are beyond his ability - while he can pivot and shift to type remarkably quickly, he can't get more than o…

Have dictation systems (like Dragon) gotten any better at switching between dictation mode and command mode?

Re: 10 finger multi-touch UI designed to replace the mouse

#50

Post by Semiapies »

gecko wrote: post #23
Semiapies wrote: post #18

Talk about multi-touch reminds me of a friend's perennial complaint, "The future of interfaces seems designed to screw me over." He has a congenital deformity of the arms, but he can type (and is one of those clacky-IBM keyboard fetishists). With his feet, he can use mice and controllers. But multi-touch systems are beyond his ability - while he can pivot and shift to type remarkably quickly, he can't get more than o…

Without disagreeing, I also don't think it makes sense to discount potentially massive improvements in user interfaces merely because a portion of the population cannot use them.

I'd be against that; on the other hand, I don't buy that trying to make an improvement for more people than just the fully-dexterous and ten-fingered means some massive sacrifice.

For that matter, I'm dubious that an interface that needs ten fingers to handle shifting between applications constitutes any massive improvement for anyone.

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