Re: Keyboard vs. mouse

Subject: Re: Keyboard vs. mouse
From: Kelly Hoffman <kelly -at- NASHUA -dot- HP -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 08:21:56 -0500

Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM> writes:

> We suspect that using the keyboard is faster than using a mouse.
> If it is, we want to slant the doc and training so that users
> become accustomed to keyboard shortcuts.
>
> However, we don't have any hard evidence of the difference in
> speed.

Check out _Tog_on_Interface_ by Bruce Tognazzini, Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company, 1992. If I remember correctly, his findings
indicate the mouse is *actually* faster than keyboard shortcuts, but
that many of the test subjects *perceived* the keyboard shortcuts to
be faster.

That said... Have you considered structuring your materials to
address both types of access? Or doing some usability testing on your
specific application to see which methods your target users prefer?

You might find, for example, that the mouse works better for some
purposes, the keyboard shortcuts for others. You can then tailor your
docs accordingly.

Regards,

kkh

--
Kelly K. Hoffman Hewlett-Packard, NetMetrix Operation, Nashua, NH
kelly -at- nashua -dot- hp -dot- com "Reading the manual is admitting defeat."
For NMO info on the Web, see http://www.tmo.hp.com/tmo/ntd/ntsmain.html


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