Enhancing one-handed website operation on touchscreen mobile phones
Karsten Seipp, Kate Devlin · 2013
Operating a website with one hand on a touchscreen mobile phone remains difficult despite advances in hardware and software development. This problem is exacerbated by manufacturers producing phones with larger screens which are more difficult to hold and operate one-handedly. We present a way to enhance one-handed operation of a website using standard client-side web technologies, without the need to redesign the site or to overwrite any CSS styles. It transforms input for form elements, media control and page access on the fly into a thumb-friendly interaction model. Initial user testing of our interface prototype confirms efficiency and learnability, and highlights its usefulness for navigating long pages and finding the desired information more quickly, even between different websites, when operating the device with one hand.