Wang Yincheng, Wang Ke, Huang Yuqi, Wu Di, Wu Jian, He Jibo
Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University.
Department of Computer Science, Beijing Normal University.
J Vis Exp. 2020 Oct 5(164). doi: 10.3791/61796.
Keyboard input has played an essential role in human-computer interaction with a vast user base, and the keyboard design has always been one of the fundamental objects of studies on smart devices. With the development of screen technology, more precise data and indicators could be collected by smartphones to in-depth evaluate the keyboard design. The enlargement of the phone screen has led to unsatisfactory input experience and finger pain, especially for one-handed input. The input efficiency and comfort have attracted the attention of researchers and designers, and the curved keyboard with size-adjustable buttons, which roughly accorded with the physiological structure of thumbs, was proposed to optimize the one-handed usage on large-screen smartphones. However, its real effects remained ambiguous. Therefore, this protocol demonstrated a general and summarized method to evaluate the effect of curved QWERTY keyboard design on a 5-inch smartphone through a self-developed software with detailed variables, including objective behavioral data, subjective feedback, and the coordinate data of each touchpoint. There is sufficient existing literature on evaluating virtual keyboards; however, only a few of them systematically summarized and took reflection on the evaluation methods and processes. Therefore, this protocol fills in the gap and presents a process and method of the systematic evaluation of keyboard design with available codes for analysis and visualization. It needs no additional or expensive equipment and is easy to conduct and operate. In addition, the protocol also helps to get potential reasons for the disadvantages of the design and enlightens the optimization of designs. In conclusion, this protocol with the open-source resources could not only be an in-class demonstrative experiment to inspire the novice to start their studies but also contributes to improving the user experience and the revenue of input method editor companies.
键盘输入在拥有庞大用户群体的人机交互中发挥了重要作用，并且键盘设计一直是智能设备研究的基本对象之一。随着屏幕技术的发展，智能手机能够收集更精确的数据和指标，以深入评估键盘设计。手机屏幕的增大导致输入体验不佳和手指疼痛，尤其是单手输入时。输入效率和舒适度引起了研究人员和设计师的关注，于是提出了带有可调节尺寸按钮的弧形键盘，其大致符合拇指的生理结构，以优化大屏幕智能手机上的单手使用。然而，其实际效果仍不明确。因此，本方案展示了一种通用且总结性的方法，通过一个自行开发的软件，利用包括客观行为数据、主观反馈以及每个触摸点的坐标数据等详细变量，来评估5英寸智能手机上弧形QWERTY键盘设计的效果。关于评估虚拟键盘，已有足够的文献；然而，其中只有少数对评估方法和过程进行了系统总结和反思。因此，本方案填补了这一空白，提出了一种对键盘设计进行系统评估的过程和方法，并提供了可供分析和可视化的代码。它无需额外或昂贵的设备，易于实施和操作。此外，该方案还有助于找出设计缺陷的潜在原因，并为设计优化提供启示。总之，这个带有开源资源的方案不仅可以作为课堂演示实验，激发新手开展研究，还有助于改善用户体验以及输入法编辑公司的收益。
