Don’t Click It
This website demonstrates what an interface that does not require mouse clicking could look like. I wouldn’t call this a research experiment exactly, but the developers do collect usage data and apparently they record the mouse movements for all users who visit the site. I think this is an important topic to explore, especially with the growing popularity of gesture-based interfaces such as Nintendo’s Wii Remote™ Plus, Microsoft’s Kinect, and Sony’s Move. In regards to the DontClick.It website, I don’t think the developers have provided a good example of how to design an interface that doesn’t require clicking. Essentially, rather than click on a button, all you have to do is roll over it with your mouse. This is similar to the ubiquitous tiered menu that can be found on many websites, and that has caused frustration for many a user.
The main problem with mouse hovering is that it is often accidental, and usually requires more precision to locate the exact button that a person wants to access. Fitt’s law, one of the only laws we have in human factors, can be used to demonstrate that when you have many buttons in close proximity, it will take a longer time to accurately point to a single, desired button. This is also known as the speed-accuracy trade-off. I would like to see the developers of this site apply Fitt’s law to their usage data and compare it with an identical site that requires traditional clicking.
When navigating the site, I found myself having difficulty knowing where I was on the site as pages loaded when I wasn’t even ready to ‘click’ on them. Also, it was unclear how to go back to the previous page when a page was accidentally accessed. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this site is poorly done, just that more research needs to be conducted on how to use mouse hovering more efficiently. For example, I think an ever-so-slight delay may be helpful – similar to hover hints, but probably not as long of a delay. More importantly though, I think the whole idea of how to arrange information on a page needs to be revisited. Perhaps the traditional menu structure with individual buttons is not the best idea anymore. I’m not sure what that would look like but I am excited to continue thinking about this subject, and to that end, I would have to say that the DontClick.It website is a success.
hyperfang
124 days ago
I agree that the website is difficult to use – not because of clicking absence but because of design problems. Menu navigation buttons are small; so you are likely to hover over a button adjacent to before the one actually want. Unfortunately, as soon as you touch a button on this interface, it expands content between the buttons meaning you have to hover through all of the content, activating unwanted events, to get to the menu item you want. Rather than expanding content between buttons, they could expand content to the side to prevent this. Also, the unavoidable popup surveys are annoying, not only because they appear out of the blue but also because they ask the wrong questions and too soon (before I can make a judgement of preference).