Using paper mockups for evaluating soft keyboard layouts

ABSTRACT

Five experiments were conducted to compare soft keyboard layouts. The methodology involved paper mockups and manual timing in a classroom situation. Students worked in pairs - one as experimenter, one as participant - swapping roles midway through the experiment. Participants used a stylus to tap the well-known "quick brown fox" phrase five times on each layout. Entry speeds, computed from the measured time to enter the phrase, were 26.5 to 34.5 wpm for the Qwerty keyboard layout, 12.3 to 14.7 wpm for the Opti layout, 15.7 wpm for the Fitaly layout, 12.1 and 12.3 for a Qwerty-Phone (QP) hybrid layout, and 19.0 to 23.0 wpm for the standard phone keypad layout. The merits and limitations of the evaluation method are discussed.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)