MelodicTap: fingering hotkey for touch tablets

Abstract

Whereas hotkeys are an important user interface for PCs, they are not usually available for touchscreen tablets. We present MelodicTap, a novel hotkey technique utilizing fingering gestures for touchscreen tablets. Users can access a hierarchical menu by performing consecutive sequential taps on the touchscreen. MelodicTap has the following advantages. 1) The use of finger tap sequences allows users to access a large number of menu items. 2) The use of finger-mapped buttons enables eyes-free operation. 3) The sequential traversal of the hierarchical menu helps users develop an expert skill. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of MelodicTap and our findings gained from the user study.