Skip to main content

Dontclick.it : Mouse Gestures for the click

Vanessa Tan has this link to a wonderful new experiment in User Interface Design promising click-free navigation.

The Institute for Interactive Research is apparently trying to study the "change in the behaviour of navigation" and whether the missing click has any "influence on our perception of the interface."

The website has three new buttons for you to experiment. The replacement of the traditional 'click' in the three buttons is as follows:

Button 1: Activating the button by wiping the mouse from left to right or right to left over it.
Button 2: The button is activated by moving the mouse pointer in a circular motion around it.
Button 3: The button has a self activating timer. To activate, keep your mouse pointer over it for a few seconds.

I find the second idea of moving the mouse pointer in a circular manner over the button extremely appealing. The other two have obvious disadvantages.

The 'wipe' that activates the first button requires that the origin and termination of the mouse movement stays on the button. So, my "flick of the wrist" has to ensure that the mouse moves just the perfect distance. Not too much, because it will move outside the button; and not too less, because then the button wont get activated. This requires extreme caution on the user's part, making life miserable for him. Also, as the website itself states, the user may accidentally activate a link by unintentionally moving the mouse over it.

The third button that has a self activating timer is certain to significantly increase the surfing time. Plus the fact that since most web designers haven't read 'Don't Make Me Think', a considerable number of users simply are unsure whether they really should be activating the particular link or not.

Be sure you check their website out. It is simply too much fun to be missing out. And yes, these are really wonderful experiments in interface design.

Comments

Anonymous said…
dont u think itll be nice if u cud come up with some convincing techno stuff...
manish_manish_anish@yahoo.co.in
parwana said…
whther the idea is gonna sustain or not i can't say
but yup its 2 revolutionary and its excellnt tht smbdy is working on UI to this extent

Popular posts from this blog

Gmail Chat Disabled

The fact that it happened does not surprise me but that it took so long for our network administrators to figure it out does. And if you are wondering how do you disable Gmail's chat features on your network, you only need locking DNS lookups to chatenabled.mail.google.com , by returning 127.0.0.1 .

Pottermania

I'll have to admit that the nature of Pottermania is beyond my comprehension capabilities! As more and more fans of all ages and countries immerse themselves in Harry’s adventures, adding fuel to the belief that Pottermania is inescapable, I am purely and simply baffled by its ability to appeal to all ages. Bored by the inactivity prevailing in this muggle world, I began to read the first one of the series and immediately concluded that reading beyond the tenth leaf was something impossible. Undeterred, I watched the first movie. I Hated it. But with the evil-wizard becoming apple of more and more eyes with every passing moment, around the world, it could only have been something wrong with me and so I watched the second movie. And then it became so easy to establish that I loathed the Potter Kid! Just a passing thought - "Would it be a bad idea for a Potter special appearance in Oliver Twist? The poor kid could do with some wizardry."