Eye on the Message: Reducing Attention Demand for Touch-based Text Entry
Ian Scott MacKenzie, Steven J. Castellucci · International Journal of Virtual Worlds and Human Computer Interaction · 2013
A touch-based text entry method was developed with the goal of reducing the attention demand on the user.The method, called H4touch, supports the entry of about 75 symbols and commands using only four soft keys.Each key is about 20 larger than the keys on a Qwerty soft keyboard on the same device.Symbols are entered as Huffman codes with most letters requiring just two or three taps.The codes for the letters and common commands are learned after a few hours of practice.At such time, the user can enter text while visually attending to the message, rather than the keyboard.Similar eye-on-the-message interaction is not possible with a Qwerty soft keyboard, since there are many keys and they are small.Entry speeds of 20+ wpm are possible for skilled users.