Searching Names in Contact List by Three Touch-Screen Gestures

Abstract

We compared three list scrolling gestures including sliding to scroll, moving a regular scrollbar, and scrolling through alphabetic index, in a name locating task on mobile phone. We found that scrolling through alphabetic index was the fastest independent of target locations. Moreover. for near-reaching targets RT was shorter for sliding to scroll than moving scrollbar, but it took sliding longer than moving scrollbar for far-reaching targets. Gesture evaluation scores of alphabetic index increased and those of sliding to scroll decreased over time. The different pre- and post-task rating patterns for gestures are due to their differential fatigue and emotional changes. The present study provides insights into users’ mental models for three list scrolling gestures and implications for future gesture design.