Textix : Two Handed Text Entry with Double Joysticks: Exploiting Qwerty Typing Skills
Andre Aubert · NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives · 2005
There are currently few effective methods of entering text by the use of joysticks. Textix is a new strategy for text entry using two small joysticks, preferably controlled by thumbs. The technique is based on mimicking two-finger typing on the Qwerty-keyboard by using the two joysticks, and is therefore easy to learn for users already familiar with typing on a Qwerty keyboard. It is foreseen to be used on mobile devices with no available space for a regular keyboard and as a system for text entry on game consoles. Textix is still under development, but already shows promising qualities and performance. Our experimental evaluation confirms that lowercase English text is typed at a mean rate of 11.81 words per minute (sd=2.99) with less than one hour of practice. The average peak rate among the fifteen test subjects was 15.91 wpm. Performance is expected to increase with further practice. Analyses of the evaluation proves that touch typists learn the proposed technique faster than non-touch typists. A strong correlation between the subjects computergame habits and achieved Textix speeds was also found. Future work includes improving the joysticks, improved or alternative language model, strategies for entering punctuations, symbols, numbers, and navigation.