Must We Click To Interact? 177
Rockgod writes, "Here is an interesting experiment (warning: heavy Flash!!) that urges you not to click anywhere in the site yet wants you to navigate through it. It's an exploration of the clicking habit of computer users and aims to help understand why it is so hard not to click." The site records the mouse movements of each visitor and offers you a sample of them to replay. Doing so is a little unnerving, like peering into people's minds.
I could have got first post... (Score:2, Funny)
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Re:I could have got first post... (Score:4, Funny)
So is this the difference between a clickless site where you just point, and a pointless site where you just click?
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Probably unhealthy (Score:1)
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Trust me, it's even worse with a trackpad!
I do think it'd be very useful to learn what sort of non-clicking interface conventions work better than others - there are some situations where you'd have positional control (ie something that tracks the eyes to see what you're looking at) but not an actuator to click. (you couldn't use 'blinking' or you'd have FAR too many false positives.
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Not if your eyes were submerged in a saline solution that kept them lubricated!
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TAKE MY MONEY!!!111oneoneone [blueace.nl]
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
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The click is a way of showing an intent to view the content available under that menu/button/whatever. Just showing it anyway with the implicit assumption that it will be hidden again anyway if it isn't what the user wanted to see is a bad design decision.
Yes, we have got to click (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes, we have got to click (Score:5, Insightful)
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I dont think this is the reason why its hard not to click. I think thats because Mice are nice toys : They are little things in our hands who do a really nice
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Funny you should mention a pen. While it uses a pencil, the new Leo Burnett [www.leoburnett] website (they are one of the bigger ad ag
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---John Holmes...
"Forced" interfaces and alternatives (Score:2)
All of which was why dontclick.it originally drove me to add an iGesture touch pad [amazon.com] to my Christmas 2003 wishlist. At the same time I chased after my first Tablet PC. I'm happy to report in response to "news" of dontclick.it that consumers thinking differently have some great hardware alternatives, granted some of them may lock you into software "alternatives" the typical /.er might rather avoid. UMPCs with the Touch Pack [microsoft.com] have taken it to the glorious next level, where finally no other tool (pen) need be hel
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There are variations on Dvorak which target Spanish [shiar.org] but Dvorak is English centric. In Spanish adaptations, yes the letter "ñ" is more accessible than otherwise, but is it in the best possible location based on its frequency? Or as Mischa Poslawsky, the shiar.org guy put it, "These modified layouts are nothing but experiments created by amateurs afaik, not based on as extensive research as the genuine dvorak. While no doubt still better than qwerty ...."
The noticeable gain I have had through Dvorak is
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you can make art with a mouse, if you practise (Score:2)
Compare that to what you COULD do when you first tried out a pen.
Don't forget that you were trained for years and years to use a pen to scribble things.
With a pen I can make a stranger's portrait for cash, I would, I assume, have a harder time doing that with a mouse since I've spent so much more time drawing with a pen that with a mouse (I never actually tried a portrait with a mouse... you've given me a nice ar
It's a matter of dexterity (Score:2)
A useful heuristic for determining an upper-bound of dexterity of a part of the body is to compare the mass of the part with the mass of the muscle that moves it. Of course you can have less dexterity than that (eg. a baby), but there is also an upper limit.
When you're using a mouse, you're primarily moving your wrist or your elbow. These are pretty good. However, your fingers simply have much better dexterity, because the muscles that move them
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File story under 'solution is search of a problem'.
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Also, I already have enough trouble with menus disappearing on me when I moved the mouse a lit
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RSI is already a worry when we can take the shortest route to an element, without having to add lots of unnecessary manoeuvring around icons, etc.
I think I like clicking... (Score:4, Interesting)
They say one of a baby's first non-verbal forms communication is pointing. Clicking must be somewhere just after that.
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Subject (Score:2, Funny)
HHGTTG (Score:5, Interesting)
Old news (Score:2)
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No (Score:4, Interesting)
No. I can use the shell, read and write mail and Usenet, surf the web, chat with others, manage windows, etc., all without using the mouse. I rarely even find the mouse convenient; it sits there a long movement away from where my hands are (on the keyboard), and it requires adjusting hand movement to the position of a pointer in a different plane.
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-uso.
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Don't even start the ergonomics issues with computers. Mice are only the beginning.
OK, we have a keyboard that is designed to slow english text input down. Then
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I use a modified form of Dvorak. Long live xmodmap.
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Are you kidding ? I'm using almost exusivly the keyboard on my Linux System, and it's far far better and faster than what I could do using Windows. I can move windows, change the size of windows, change virtual desktop, open new programs, etc
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I can't click (Score:2)
Even they miss the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Without a click or some other explicit action (mouse gesture?), the app has to slow things down till it is sure a choice has been made. If things are too fast then the wrong thing happens.
Also: what if you wanted to rapidly select a few words in your message box to delete/change them?
So I don't really see what's the point of this. This sort of thing might be useful for disabled peop
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Agreed. The click is a useful way to confirm your selection. I found that the site needlessly responded to my mouse movements just because I was in-transit to another location. Or worse, if I paused too long in one place it would take that as my choice and run with it. The only way to tell the difference between passing over a button and intending to click it is *time* spent there. This is time I would rather spend being productive, and not waiting for the system to realize that this button is indeed the on
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Adapting the interface for more practical apppliations? Hey, didn't I see you cheering on the Wii the other day?
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As an aside, Dasher (http://www.inference.phy.cam. [cam.ac.uk]
Re:Tacit confirmation (Score:2)
Oops. Too late. Hence, the click.
Must we use Flash to not click? (Score:1)
Another thought: I imagine that clicking is easier to manage than careful mouse manipulation for people with disabilities. By having to steer the mouse so precisely, it might make the site even harder for them.
Nevertheless, I like the idea. It made me think about UI a bit, something that I haven't done in a while.
Re:Must we use Flash to not click? (Score:4, Interesting)
but is Flash really required for this? Couldn't it be done another way?
No, Flash is not really required. It could all have been done with Javascript and images, plus possibly image maps.
I imagine that clicking is easier to manage than careful mouse manipulation for people with disabilities.
I'm not disabled, but I'm getting on a bit, (age > 60) and I find clicking a bit troublesome. (Double-clicking is really troublesome, I can't imagine why anyone ever thought that double-clicking was a good idea.) Remember that the sensitivity of mouse movement is adjustable in most GUIs, so pointer manipulation is unlikely to be a problem for anyone.
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Possibly, but however the mouse sensitivity is set up, I have seen people (mostly young children, or older people) being completely unable to get the pointer over the X to close a window or to move the mouse from one side of the screen to the other within the space of two mouse pads. Also, not clicking requires greater pointer control, I found it much more difficult
Missing audible feedback (Score:1)
Given that this is /. (Score:1, Funny)
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Layne
Welcome to archive.org... (Score:1)
nope (Score:3, Informative)
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As you know, touchpads on laptops "click" whenever you do a "tap" on them. By default, this is sensitive.
The mandatory no-clicking tends to mess users up - then again, nobody should be using defective hardware anyway.
How about moving the mouse away ? (Score:2)
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1) in the 'choose a movement to be replayed' - I pointed at one of the items, and a 'Go' popped up on the left of the name. I wanted to point at another item - the next one, but in the process of doing so, the mouse went through the 'Go' button, which closed the choice window and started an animation..
2) no visible way to stop the prerecorded animation, since it didn't respond to movements, didn't respond to clicks.
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There's a good reason why people click (Score:3, Interesting)
Now the GUI interface is a simulated world with objects to manipulate, therefore it's perfectly normal that people want to click. In fact, I doubt clicking is a habit that can be changed, I think it's hardwired in the brain. Imagine, back in the real world: would you reach for a pen and wait for it to attach itself to your hand? of course not, you close your fingers to pick it up. Well, same for computers: you point an object with the pointer then click to "do something". It's natural.
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Mouse gestures could maybe improve it. I tried mouse gestures on Opera once I think, reminded me of Black and White, but I'm fine with just clicking buttons for now (plus I don't know how well mouse ges
Must ... Click .... (Score:2)
Heck, never mind clicking... (Score:3, Funny)
Already used in children's games (Score:2)
My wife and I started letting our son play some games designed for babies when he was about 2 years old. At the time, he was just learning to use the mouse. One of the games was perfect in not requiring him to click on the (rather large) graphical sprites in order to interact with the game. As long as the mouse hovered for a sufficiently long time over an object, the game treated that as equivalent to a click.
What about dontscroll.it (Score:1)
An interesting demonstration of the idea is in an article [alistapart.com] on Alistapart.
Not clicking is easy... (Score:2)
But (Score:2)
I got too into it... (Score:1, Funny)
Flashblock (Score:2)
Don't press any key to continue (Score:4, Insightful)
Creative ways of using a mouse have been tried repeatedly (such as the gesture selection system in Black and White and Darwinia), but the conclusion is invariably that such systems are just pains in the ass once the novelty wears off.
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Definitely not a 'novelty' feature... though you still need to click the right mouse button.
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Kaboom! (Score:2)
In short, it's like I've never used a computer before and everything's a mystery in both form and function. That's no
nice but (Score:2)
I just found out I like to click (Score:2)
I consider 'idly' moving the mouse cursor around the equivalent to 'making up my mind about what I want to do' whereas clicking is saying 'do it'.
A clickless interface m
Don't Click It... (Score:2)
Slashdotted.
How is this an improvement? (Score:1)
Tried it, hated it within 60 seconds.
Yes, I can refrain from clicking; I'm not a total twitch, nor is my computer usage subconcious. Yes, I can navigate the site with the gestures. Does it make it easier to do things? No, it makes it far harder to get the right action without accidentally triggering others. If that was my banking site I'd be in a right mess by now.
With a mouse I have two distinct, non-confusable actions: move and click. It's important that these are separate as I use them for distinct
Enter text Press [Enter] (Score:2)
They need to update on their science... (Score:2)
Come on! It's obvious why the humans click (Score:2)
The idea is that you separate two actions: aiming and firing. It gives you the feedback on your aim, and then, when you're satisfied with it, you do the fire action.
It's exactly the same why shooting arrows from a bow is more precise than throwing stones, and why shooting from a rifle is more precise than shooting arrows: the less movement you need after you got your aim, the more exact will the process be.
Did Steve Jobs put you up to this?! (Score:4, Funny)
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-K
Different for the sake of being different (Score:2)
If you've got a method that's intrinsically better, but different from what the user is familiar with, it still has to be a *lot* better in order to be useful in the real world.
Take the Dvorak keyboard or GNU/Linux/X as case studies.
The clickless mouse doesn't seem to cut it.
what was he thinking? (Score:2)
What sort of a system do these people think others are running? Sorry we don't all have OC3's and a rack full of blades in our basement.
Not clicking as another form of input (Score:2)
For the longest time, I've been using Firefox's Tabbrowser preferences to use the mouse focus rather than a mouse click to switch between tabs. I've grown really used to it, and it's one of the first things I miss when I have to use someone else's machine.
I think that alternative ways of navigating need to be looked at carefully - clicking is not the optimal way of interacting with computers *all* the time. The above site needs to be looked at as a proof of concept, rather than as an optimally designed ex
Feels like a grad student project (Score:2)
This is an interesting site, but it feels like a student thesis project from, say, Parsons' Design & Technology department [parsons.edu]. It's interesting, somewhat humorous, makes you think a little about your habits, and may even -- someday, perhaps, with enough work -- lead to something practical.
I'm riding a train right now, and the guy across from me has a wireless mouse. When he's not using it (e.g. he's typing), the mouse keeps sliding around the tray surface when the train turns or bumps. A clickless int
Are you stressed or something? (Score:2)
Why are you asking silly questions "but why is it in Flash"?
Does it matter? It's just a fun experimental site and nothing more. Most people replying here have an attitude that looks like they genuinely believe the author is going to sneak in their offices while they sleep and steal their mouse buttons.
Noone is taking away clicks from you, people! Click freely! Feeling better now?
I have the feeling even the author doesn't take his experiment
no (Score:2)
Must We? (Score:2)
IE7 (Score:2)
Don't you have to click with IE7 to activate Flash before it can respond to mouseover events?
Must...resist... (Score:2)
As accustomed to skipping TFA as Slashdotters are, I'm sure they'd have no problems not clicking on this one, too.
Re:I am a terrible person - Yes you are (Score:1)
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Not always. the URL ending in / is suppoed to mean "go to the directory shown and display index.html", so http://slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org] and http://slashdot.org/index.html [slashdot.org] are (in a perfect world) equivalent. That doesn't mean that the second is wrong, though, and in the case of the link provided for the gallery, it's the full name of the file, so it's a valid hyperlink.
Virg
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http://www.slashdot.org/foo [slashdot.org] is fine, but
http://www.slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org] isn't (technically it should be http://www.slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org])
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I'll yield that the web server configuration is the final word, but I was talking about default behavior (and I did comment "in a perfect world" in describing it). My point was that the ending slash is not always necessary nor is it always correct.
Also, having a trailing slash after the host name is part of the spec, but most browsers will fill in if you leave it off. Not related to spec, but something to note when someone finds out the