László Kozma

non-linear mouse models [more ideas]

At first sight the mouse seems to produce a linear mapping from the physical plane of the desk/mousepad to the virtual plane of the computer screen. As the mouse is moved within a rectangle, the mouse cursor is also expected to stay in a rectangle on the screen.

In most modern system, however, this linearity is given up for increased usability. Most often the speed of movement is taken into account, though often it is mistakenly referred to as acceleration. If I slowly move the mouse a few centimeters, the cursor will move a few centimeters on the screen. But if I move the mouse quickly over the same distance, the cursor might jump from one margin to the other.

If the mapping is not linear anyway, other transformations could be introduced as well:

1) On a geographic map the mouse could move along the latitudes and longitudes, whatever the actual shape of these lines on the screen. In a CAD application it could move along some coordinates that are meaningful in the object space. In an other program, the mouse could move along polar coordinates. In an image processing application the mouse movement could be restricted to contours of different shapes. While all these models would be counter-intuitive at first and difficult to get used to, they could give more control for advanced users.

2) The mouse could be more sensitive (move more slowly) in the neighborhood of objects or in the regions where more actions are possible. It would move quickly in empty areas where no action (or just one action) is possible. Regions with increased mouse sensitivity would include icons, menus, taskbars, etc.

3) Mouse gestures are already used in some applications with or instead of clicks. These include making a cross, spiral, a small circle or some other shape. To fully take advantage of gestures different interface elements would be needed as well.