Keyboard vs Mouse
Someone, I forget who, pointed to an old article on Ask Tog, Keyboard vs. The Mouse, pt 1. I found it particularly interesting to read that:
- Test subjects consistently report that keyboarding is faster than mousing.
- The stopwatch consistently proves mousing is faster than keyboarding.
I've always been of the mind that GUIs are faster than command lines for any task which you don't do often enough to know off by heart. I imagine the same applies in this case - any task you perform often enough to learn the keyboard shortcut off by heart is faster by keyboard shortcut, otherwise using the mouse is faster. Unfortunately, this means that when you begin using a new command frequently, you have to go through a period of slower use in order to learn the keyboard shortcut, after which you should be faster.
However, the article suggests, but doesn't outright state, that keyboard shortcuts are always slower which I find really quite odd. Perhaps that's not what's meant by the article, or perhaps I'm suffering from the two second amnesia and keyboard shortcuts really are always slower. I'm particularly intrigued to see if anyone has actual user data that shows that keyboard shortcuts are faster, and when they are.
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:37 am
Whether they are faster or not, I imagine keyboard short cuts require less effort on a users behalf. Moving an analogue mouse exactly where it needs to be, ensuring it is not over something else (which could have disastrous effects) requires some hand eye co-ordination which is going to tax some effort on your behalf. Hitting hot keys on the other hand requires a set finger combination, so while the first few times you will no doubt have to look at the keys to feel comfortable you aren’t getting it wrong, after a while you will instinctively hit the keys for what you are after.
The fact that these people were in a ‘test’ situation probably skews the results a bit. In a test for speed and correctness, you are probably going to get 2 things happening.
1) If using the mouse is quicker, though more taxing on your effort, you will sacrifice effort for speed.
2) When after correctness you tend to second guess yourself a few more times. You verify a mouse is over the correct icon by looking at it, to second guess you look a second time, no biggie. With a keyboard a verification is going to require looking away from the screen and at the key combination you are about to hit. And there’s a good chance you’ll have to shift your hand to visually verify each key as well.
In my experience, you are generally going to opt for less effort over a negligibly quicker time. But them maybe I’m just lazy. I’ll definitely be taking extra notice of the choices I make today to see where I take a slower by more effortless choice over the quicker alternative.
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:46 am
Actaully, the article claims that the keyboard is more effort, at least in terms of brain functions because it requires concious thought whereas the mouse leverages the very natural hand-eye coordination that humans have built in, so it does’t require concious effort.
Physically the mouse requires more movement effort but less dexterity.