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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Hi Everyone,</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>This is just a mail to let you know about some results of a study we carried out regarding drag and drop tasks using the N810 device. The study produced a couple of guidelines for designing drag and drop interfaces on mobile devices. We focussed on the size of the target that is to be dragged onto. This was done because some of the scenarios included drag and drop interactions. </FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>In summary we found error rates (in this case, when a child failed to successfully drag an object onto a target) increased the most when target size dropped below 50 pixels<SUP>2 </SUP>(px<SUP>2</SUP>). We also found children had difficulties dragging objects smaller than 20px<SUP>2</SUP> in a pilot study, leading to frustration, and errors. </FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Another important point was regarding feedback when the child had placed the stylus on an object to be dragged, a number of errors were made because a child had not realised the target was selected, and so released the stylus. Clear feedback (E.g. colour change, or change/animate object graphic) should be provided both when the stylus has been placed on the object, and when the target area is entered.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I have attached a copy of the short paper reporting this study (I hope I can send attachments to this list). For anyone who may not be familiar with the Fitts’ law terminology in the paper, Amplitude (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A</I>) refers to the distance between the object to be dragged and the target area. Width (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">W</I>) refers to the size of the target.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Cheers</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Brendan</FONT></P></BODY></HTML>