Mouse skills ?

[bens_dad]

Ben's favorite television program "Something Special" (Mr Tumble) has a website with some new games.

One of the games (Balloon popping) was demonstrated on the TV and the presenter said he was using a web cam so that the game could see where he was pointing - like a Play Staton Eye Toy or a Microsoft Kinetic. The laptop I'm using doesn't have a web cam, but it does have touch screen, and it turns out that the games work with that too.

So the question is, should we teach Ben to use a mouse, or will they be obsolete by the time he needs to use one ?

Comments

[fanf]

I got a Kensington Expert "Mouse" (i.e. big trackball) for Charles when he was small, because he did not have the dexterity or conceptual framework to handle an Apple multi-touch trackpad. He got the hang of it without trouble. Later he started playing with my iPod touch which he also got the hang of very quickly - the multi-touch gestures are simpler and it's easier to avoid inadvertent touches when there is a direct "touch this but not that" metaphor. He can use trackpads now but still prefers the trackball. He hasn't used a mouse as much, but it's similar in difficulty to a trackball, though I think a trackball is more friendly to small hands.

[martinoh]

I'd be surprised if they were obsolete, though they're likely to be one of a range of options in use. Simple fact is that finger touch (or camera and gesture) works well for some applications, but the combination of movement with selected actions from buttons/wheels is far more efficient in others.

From a purely ergonomic viewpoint, its difficult to see touch/gesture taking over completely where a large part of a user's day is spent at the computer using complex applications.