Comments on: Desktop Touch Screens Just Don’t Work For Us Humans

By: Bill Kearney

Bill Kearney — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:54:14 +0000

The gorilla arm problem has been known about for some time. Using a touchscreen ends up requiring a lot more arm strength than is comfortable by most people. Other than in a few select instances (like presentations, industrial applications or point of sale) the touchscreen is not an ideal way to engage in most interactions with the computer. For most individuals it’s unlikely to ever offer much utility. It’s a handy gimmick, to be sure, but not enough to justify the costs to add it to a display.

Another point to consider is repeat activities and how that affects durability. Users benefit from being able to depend upon things showing up in predictable places on the screen. But this means any interaction with those functions is going to incur added wear on those locations. Just take a look at retail touchscreens and note the worn out spots. Or just look at your keyboard and note how frequently used keys like e,s, backspace and enter tend to have their lettering worn off more than others.

Touchscreens are almost as useless as voice input, but not quite.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:04:09 +0000

I think the solution to this is two screens. One to touch on and a higher display. Star Trek did it.

By: Austin

Austin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:30:26 +0000

I think we should keep touch screens for mobile devices only….thats the only way to have it convenient.

By: Eduardo

Eduardo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:05:04 +0000

Touch screen for desktop. Advances in technology.

By: Drumlind11

Drumlind11 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:47:57 +0000

I’m sure that someone is going to think of a way to have touch screen while still making it comfortable. It might be a while, but still. You never know what will happen.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:32:58 +0000

i think that i could tilt down my touchsmart, but it only goes to about 45 degrees…

thats screwy.

By: Ron Schenone

Ron Schenone — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:12:53 +0000

I’d like to see voice commands before I die! LOL

By: Buffet

Buffet — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:34:29 +0000

For me, the optimum way to interact with my computer would be like anyone else in Starfleet – verbally. How much longer till I don’t have to touch anything? Not that Dragon stuff either. The Enterprise stuff. I can wait another year or so, I suppose – If i have to.

By: mhz

mhz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:04:06 +0000

There is no reason you should expect to ever have to use a touch screen. You’ll always be able to use external input if you want.

I would think that voice commands would be a much more useful area to focus on.

Touch screens are awkward in many respects if you’re trying to use your fingers. They are okay if you only need to push a button, like the digital self checkouts at some grocery stores.

For detailed work of any kind, you need something more precise than a finger. With a stylus of some type they can be tolerable, but the other comment was correct that the “ergonomic” factor is pretty big over time. For people who have to sit at a desk and do precision screen work, it doesn’t get much better than the current model. Just get a good chair.

By: zenium

zenium — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:24:40 +0000

Looking down at a screen will be a pain in the neck literally!

Your neck is not designed to look down all the time.

So I guess for touch screens it is either have your hands above your heart or have a pain in the neck.

No thank you.