Touch or click friendly: Towards adaptive user interfaces for complex applications

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 2; p. e0297056
• Main Authors: Hussain, Ibrar, Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jadoon, Waqas, Jadoon, Rab Nawaz, Khan, Abdul Nasir, Shafi, Muhammad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 05.02.2024; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Analysis of Variance; Biology and Life Sciences; Comparative analysis; Computer and Information Sciences; Computer software industry; Engineering and Technology; Humans; Mouse devices (Computers); Physical Sciences; Research and Analysis Methods; Social Sciences; User interface; User-Computer Interface; Oman; United States
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297056
• ISSN: 1932-6203

This study evaluated the usability of a direct manipulation device (touchscreen) vs. indirect manipulation devices (mouse and touchpad) on the selected Microsoft (MS) Word tasks as per ISO-9241-11 standard. MS Word was taken as an example of a complex application. The tasks were evaluated in terms of touch-friendly or click-friendly using efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction parameters to propose a customized task menu. The experiment was conducted with fifty-four participants, divided into three MS Word usage-based expertise groups. Each participant performed fifty-six tasks using a mouse, a touchpad, and a touchscreen. To assess task-level usability, individual one-way ANOVAs were performed for each task to gauge both efficiency and effectiveness. It’s worth noting that the touchscreen significantly outperformed other input methods in just one specific task regarding effectiveness. Consequently, an ANCOVA was employed, with task completion time as the independent variable and the number of errors as a covariate, to further investigate effectiveness. A total of 19 (34%) of the total tasks were found to be significantly efficient with a mouse, while 21 (37.5%) were significantly efficient with a touchscreen. Based on the results, a customized menu is recommended for MS Word-like applications that combine actions in touch-friendly tasks and mouse-friendly tasks separately.