It enables switching between the text entry mode, and the command selection mode.
We assume that the fact that such mode switchers are located on the keyboard is essentially due to historical reasons described above.
-The computer mouse was first publicly demonstrated by Englebart in 1968, commercialized with the \defword{Xerox Alto} in 1973.
-At this time, the mouse behavior essentially consisted in selecting pointed objects or invoking \defword{contextual menus} (called pop-up menus back then).
-Scrolling only came up about ten years later~\cite{ohno85,venolia93,venolia94}.
-Command selection with the mouse usually relies on actions associated to selected objects: icons, menu items, or manipulated objects.
-Even advanced interaction techniques such as Toolglasses~\cite{bier93} consist in selecting menu items.
+\paragraph{The Mouse}
+
+The computer mouse was first publicly demonstrated by Englebart in 1968~\cite{engelbart68}, commercialized with the \defword{Xerox Alto} in 1973.
+At this time, the mouse behavior essentially consisted in selecting pointed objects or invoking \defword{contextual menus} (called pop-up menus back then)~\cite{canfield82}.
+Scrolling only came up about ten years later~\cite{ohno85}.
+In this article, Ohno~\etal describe a mouse with 5 buttons and a scrolling wheel.
+Interestingly, the wheel was not used for scrolling, but for selecting a particular object among several under the cursor.
+It was meant to be used with the thumb.
+Alternatively, the user could scroll documents with a pressure-sensitive button on the thumb with 4~bits resolution.
+There was another pressure sensitive button under the index finger, for picking objects, pressure data provided more information about the object, with a zoom for example.
+The three other fingers had simple buttons, for opening a menu, undoing actions or quitting the current command.
+The scrolling wheel as we know it appeared ten years later \cite{venolia93,venolia94}, and was commercialized as the Microsoft IntelliMouse\footnote{\url{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IntelliMouse}} in 1996.
+
+\paragraph{Command selection with a mouse}
+
+Besides the 5-button mouse by Ohno~\etal which commands were set by design, command selection with the mouse used to rely on actions associated to selected objects: icons, menu items, or manipulated objects.
+Even advanced interaction techniques such as Toolglasses~\cite{bier93} consisted in selecting menu items.
The UNIA\footnote{\url{https://www.microsoft.com/buxtoncollection/detail.aspx?id=150}} mouse was likely the first one to enable direct command selection, without mediator.
It has a numeric keypad, as well as modifier keys under a removable cover.
This disposition makes it difficult to both use the device as a mouse, and use the additional keys at the same time.
-
-
-
-The PadMouse
-
-~\cite{balakrishnan98}
-It consisted of a combination of a mouse and a touchpad.
-With this device, the user could activate modifiers or select command through a marking menu with its touchpad.
-In the last decades, commercial mice included additional mouse buttons located at the vicinity of the thumb.
+PadMouse is another modified mouse that enables command selection with marking menus~\cite{balakrishnan98}.
+The user can draw marks on a touchpad mounted on the mouse.
+This device inspired the design of commercial products, such as the
+Apple Magic Mouse~\footnote{\url{https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MRME2/}} or the
+Microsoft Touch Mouse~\footnote{\url{http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/touch-mouse}}.
+In 1999, Microsoft released the IntelliMouse Explorer, which not only used an optical sensor, but also featured 5 buttons, one on each finger.
These additional buttons are typically used for navigating to the previous/next page in a browser, or trigger actions in video games.
+The scrolling wheel button is typically used for pasting on X11\footnote{\url{https://www.x.org/wiki/}} and its following versions.
+While these devices map commands to additional mouse buttons, none of them considered using these buttons as mode switchers.
+This is the topic of the \emph{CtrlMouse} and \emph{TouchCtrl} projects~\cite{pietrzak14}.
\begin{figure}[htb]
\centering
\hspace{0.3cm}
\fbox{\includegraphics[height=4.1cm]{ctrlmouseOn}
\includegraphics[height=4.1cm]{ctrlmouseOff}}
- \caption{We explore the impact of duplicating modifier keys on the mouse. \emph{CtrlMouse} (left) mirrors the \protect\ctrl and \protect\shift keys on the mouse to delimit text entry and command selection and reduce the needs of coordination of the left hand. \emph{TouchCtrl} (right) implicitly triggers the command mode when the hand hovers the mouse.}
- \label{figure:ctrlmouse}
+ \caption[CtrlMouse and TouchCtrl]{We explore the impact of duplicating modifier keys on the mouse. \emph{CtrlMouse} (left) mirrors the \protect\ctrl and \protect\shift keys on the mouse to delimit text entry and command selection and reduce the needs of coordination of the left hand. \emph{TouchCtrl} (right) implicitly triggers the command mode when the hand hovers the mouse.}
+ \label{figure:ctrlmousetouchctrl}
\end{figure}
-In the CtrlMouse project, we studied the idea of duplicating the \ctrl and \shift keys on a mouse~\cite{pietrzak14}.
-By doing so, we would like to reconsider the position of mode switchers.
+\defword{CtrlMouse} and \defword{TouchCtrl} are two implementations that enable us to reconsider the position of mode switchers (\reffig{figure:ctrlmousetouchctrl}).
+These two systems duplicate the \ctrl and \shift keys on a mouse, and differ by their type of \emph{activation}.
+\emph{CtrlMouse} mirrors classic mode delimiters on the mouse.
+Users \emph{explicitly} change the mode by pressing the buttons located on the vicinity of the thumb, similarly to pressing the \ctrl and \shift keys on the keyboard.
+\emph{TouchCtrl} triggers the command mode \emph{implicitly} when the user's hand is in contact with the pointing device.
+The user can then press the thumb buttons for activating additional modifiers.
+
+
+\paragraph{\emph{CtrlMouse}}
+\emph{\emph{CtrlMouse}} is an interaction technique that facilitates the use of keyboard shortcuts when the user's hand is near the pointing device. \emph{CtrlMouse} uses the mouse buttons located in the vicinity of the thumb as keyboard modifiers (figure \ref{fig:ctrlmouse}). The keyboard switches from \emph{text mode} to \emph{command mode} when users press one of these buttons and return to the text-mode when users release these buttons (quasimode).
\begin{figure}[htb]
\centering
\includegraphics[height=3.2cm]{_singlepress.pdf}
\includegraphics[height=3.2cm]{_dualpress.pdf}
%\thomas{We can make this smaller}
- \caption{\emph{CtrlMouse} mirrors modifiers on the mouse (left). Users can either press \protect\ctrl (middle) or \protect\ctrl+\protect\shift (right) thanks to a simple small amplitude thumb movement. Users don't have to home to keyboard anymore to perform complicated keyboard shortcuts.}
+ \caption[CtrlMouse]{\emph{CtrlMouse} mirrors modifiers on the mouse (left). Users can either press \protect\ctrl (middle) or \protect\ctrl+\protect\shift (right) thanks to a simple small amplitude thumb movement. Users don't have to home to keyboard anymore to perform complicated keyboard shortcuts.}
\label{fig:ctrlmouse}
\end{figure}
+As modifiers are dedicated to the right hand, users are neither constrained to perform chord gestures, nor bringing back the right hand to the keyboard when executing complex keyboard shortcuts. More precisely, mirroring the modifiers on the mouse has several advantages:
+
+\emph{Expressivity}. \emph{CtrlMouse} is not meant to replace modifiers on the keyboard, it provides another alternative for users. Users are free to use modifiers on the keyboard or on the mouse according to their preferences.
+
+\emph{Finger coordination.} Traditional keyboard shortcuts often require users to perform chording gestures. Depending on the hotkey location and the number of modifiers, typing these keyboard shortcuts can require subtle finger coordination. It can also result in uncomfortable static muscular loads \cite{putz88}. By splitting hotkeys and modifier keys between both hands, \emph{CtrlMouse} reduces the need for precise finger coordination.
+
+\emph{Hotkey mapping}. Commands are generally assigned to mnemonic hotkeys to favor memorization. However, we also observe that frequent hotkeys are often associated to keys localized on the left side of the keyboard to keep it close enough to the Left \ctrl key. As a result, it is sometimes necessary to increase the number of modifiers to the hotkeys localized on the left side of the keyboard. As \emph{CtrlMouse} alleviates the chording constraints, hotkeys can be uniformly distributed on the keyboard. It provides more flexibility to the designers to define efficient command-hotkey mappings and can reduce the number of hotkeys requiring several modifiers~\cite{bailly13}.
+
+\emph{Multiple modifiers}. When multiple modifiers are still necessary, \emph{CtrlMouse} provides a significant advantage. It supports the activation of two modifiers at once using a single mechanical action of a thumb press.
+
+\emph{Mouse/keyboard transitions.} Some keyboard shortcuts are difficult to perform because of the location of the hotkey, especially if located on the right side of the keyboard \cite{bailly13}. While users can use the \ctrl key on the right side of the keyboard, we observed that with pointing-based applications, users often still use the left \ctrl key with the left hand and press the hotkey with the right hand. \emph{CtrlMouse} buttons avoid these Mouse/Keyboard transitions with the right hand.
+
+\emph{Compatibility}. Usual actions mapped to mouse buttons are simple clicks, wheareas modifiers are maintained until a hotkey is pressed. This means \emph{CtrlMouse} is compatible with usual actions associated with these buttons, such as \modk{Previous} or \modk{Next}.
+
+\emph{Implementation}. \emph{CtrlMouse} does not require additional hardware since several mouses controllers (e.g, Logitech M705, Logitech M905) already have two thumb buttons.
+Technically, presses shorter than $200ms$ trigger the usual action, and a longer presses are interpreted as modifiers.
+
+To sum up, \emph{CtrlMouse} differs from traditional hotkeys by the \emph{location} of the modifier: users can press the dedicated buttons on the mouse instead of modifier keys of the keyboard. However, using the mouse for activating a keyboard modifier offers additional possibilities illustrated with \emph{TouchCtrl}.
+
+
+\paragraph{\emph{TouchCtrl}}
+
+\emph{\emph{TouchCtrl}} has also been designed to investigate the impact of duplicating modifiers on the mouse controller. It \emph{implicitly} switches the keyboard to command mode as soon as the right hand grabs the mouse. \emph{TouchCtrl} is based on the hypothesis that users seldom use the keyboard to type text while the right hand holds the mouse. As a result \emph{TouchCtrl} is, unlike \emph{CtrlMouse}, limited to a single modifier (typically \ctrl). Yet, \emph{TouchCtrl} has similar advantages than \emph{CtrlMouse} (better finger coordination, less movements, easier shortcut mapping, and less keyboard/mouse transitions), but also requires less efforts from the right hand.
+
+\emph{Compatibility}. \emph{TouchCtrl} is based on the hypothesis that users do not type long texts when the right hand hold the mouse as we observed that these situations are rare. However, if users still want to enter text with the left hand, they can briefly lift their right hand up from the mouse.
+
+\emph{Several modifiers}. \emph{TouchCtrl} is more sensible to multiple modifiers than \emph{CtrlMouse} because the binary information (contact between the hand and the mouse) can only replace one modifier. An explicit modifier is still required to trigger keyboard shortcuts that use several modifiers.
+
+\emph{Hardware implementation}. \emph{TouchCtrl} is easily supported by state-of-the-art multitouch mouse such as Apple MagicMouse or Microsoft TouchMouse.
+Moreover, \emph{TouchCtrl} can also be used with a touchpad to activate commands when at least a finger touches the surface.
+
+%Duplicating modifiers on the mouse can provide both qualitative and quantitative advantages compared to the keyboard. In the next sections, we detail two laboratory studies and a field study to compare the use of keyboard and mouse modifiers.
+
+
+
\subsection{Métamorphe: a keyboard with actuated keys}
projects / hdr.git / commitdiff