4 ms·

I'm not taking sides on this one, but thought you might find this article interesting that was posted here 2 days ago. https://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardV

by jspash 7y ago

I'm not taking sides on this one, but thought you might find this article interesting that was posted here 2 days ago. https://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardVMouse1.html https://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardVMouse1.html The key take-away was they spent a lot of money on a research project specifically about mouse vs. keyboard and found the precise opposite to be true! Surprising to say the least. * Test subjects consistently report that keyboarding is faster than mousing. * The stopwatch consistently proves mousing is faster than keyboarding.

usrusr 7y ago
Considering all the time I have wasted in recent years wrestling with text selection and cursor positioning on touchscreen devices, this discussion seems delightfully pointless: they are both so much faster than the third option that any difference between the two must be insignificant.
marcus_holmes 7y ago
I have no idea why you're getting downvoted. Supplying actual data is always useful. Especially when it contradicts a common opinion ;)
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Supplying actual data is always useful. If only that article did that :). Sometimes, articles that contradict a common opinion do so because they're simply dead wrong. This is one of those cases.
  - marcus_holmes 7y ago
    I'll admit it's not much data, and there doesn't appear to be a source. But it vaguely refers to a study, and doesn't just reflect the authors preferences. Did Apple do a study? Did it come to the conclusion that the mouse was faster? If so, why is it dead wrong?
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      I don't know if Apple did a study, and I'm not particularly inclined to look hard for it, because the argumentation from the article series itself is pretty much bogus and uses some weird test setups (like https://www.asktog.com/SunWorldColumns/S02KeyboardVMouse3.html https://www.asktog.com/SunWorldColumns/S02KeyboardVMouse3.ht... and the e -> | replacement game); that, coupled with my real-world experience which every day proves superiority of keyboard over mouse in structured interfaces, leads me to assign very low prior to the validity of the conclusion of that Apple study, as reported by Tog. (The study perhaps had a more narrow set of conclusions than presented in the article. Wouldn't surprise me.)
alpaca128 7y ago
> The stopwatch consistently proves mousing is faster than keyboarding Without specifying how it was tested that's meaningless. For example I've read of a test where keyboard users were slower because they had to do a find/replace operation on a file manually, moving the cursor only with arrow keys. That's like saying using the mouse is slower after forcing mouse users to type text on a virtual keyboard. I think in most scenarios both can be fast enough that the difference doesn't matter, provided there's proper support for both.

by jspash 7y ago

usrusr 7y ago

Considering all the time I have wasted in recent years wrestling with text selection and cursor positioning on touchscreen devices, this discussion seems delightfully pointless: they are both so much faster than the third option that any difference between the two must be insignificant.

marcus_holmes 7y ago

I have no idea why you're getting downvoted. Supplying actual data is always useful. Especially when it contradicts a common opinion ;)

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Supplying actual data is always useful. If only that article did that :). Sometimes, articles that contradict a common opinion do so because they're simply dead wrong. This is one of those cases.
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  I'll admit it's not much data, and there doesn't appear to be a source. But it vaguely refers to a study, and doesn't just reflect the authors preferences. Did Apple do a study? Did it come to the conclusion that the mouse was faster? If so, why is it dead wrong?
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    I don't know if Apple did a study, and I'm not particularly inclined to look hard for it, because the argumentation from the article series itself is pretty much bogus and uses some weird test setups (like https://www.asktog.com/SunWorldColumns/S02KeyboardVMouse3.html https://www.asktog.com/SunWorldColumns/S02KeyboardVMouse3.ht... and the e -> | replacement game); that, coupled with my real-world experience which every day proves superiority of keyboard over mouse in structured interfaces, leads me to assign very low prior to the validity of the conclusion of that Apple study, as reported by Tog. (The study perhaps had a more narrow set of conclusions than presented in the article. Wouldn't surprise me.)

alpaca128 7y ago

> The stopwatch consistently proves mousing is faster than keyboarding Without specifying how it was tested that's meaningless. For example I've read of a test where keyboard users were slower because they had to do a find/replace operation on a file manually, moving the cursor only with arrow keys. That's like saying using the mouse is slower after forcing mouse users to type text on a virtual keyboard. I think in most scenarios both can be fast enough that the difference doesn't matter, provided there's proper support for both.