On-Screen Keyboards: Which Arrangements Should be Used?

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to test and evaluate three onscreen keyboard arrangements with indirect input devices. Studies conducted for hard keyboard arrangements have considered various factors affecting typing; however, differences between the nature of the hard and on-screen keyboards tasks preclude extrapolation from hard keyboard studies to onscreen keyboard designs. In this study, Finger Placement and Non-Finger Placement typists provided data for Stimuli (Word vs. Non-Words), Devices (Mouse vs. Arrow Keys), and Keyboards (1-Row Alphabetical, 3-Row Alphabetical, and QWERTY arrangements). The primary data collection tasks were two movement tasks and a typing task. The typing task consisted of having the user type a given Stimulus utilizing one of the on-screen keyboard arrangements and input devices. The movement task served as a control for movement time in the typing task. At the conclusion of the study, users were asked to rank order their preference for keyboard arrangement and input device. The QWERTY keyboard resulted in the fastest overall input times, and was the most preferred arrangement overall. Interaction between Device and Keyboard showed that with the mouse, input times for the 1-Row Alphabetical were slower than the QWERTY; whereas, with the arrow keys, input times were equivalent. However, this change in relative performance under the 1-Row Alphabetical arrangement for the two devices can be simply attributed to movement time. After statistically removing the effects of movement time from the typing task, the 1-Row Alphabetical arrangement was equivalent to the QWERTY for both input devices. Conclusions suggest potential incompatibility between the mouse interface and the 1-Row Alphabetical arrangement used in this study.