Exploration to design a cursor for indirect pen interfaces
Jaehyun Han, Geehyuk Lee · 2012
Indirect pen interfaces with a horizontal control space and a vertical display space are common in designers' work environments. They have advantages compared to direct pen interfaces in respect of fatigue and occlusion problems. An intrinsic problem of indirect pen interfaces, however, is that users have to work with limited visual feedback about the pen and the hand. In order to understand and cope with the limited visual feedback problem, we undertook a three-phase user study. First, we conducted an observation study to examine the symptoms of the limited visual feedback problem. Second, we tested different types of cursors to cope with the limited visual feedback problem. Third, we performed a controlled user study to analyse the effects of different cursor designs and their quality factors. We summarize the main findings from our user study that may contribute to the usability of indirect pen interfaces.