Intuitive Multi-Touch Gestures for Mobile Web Browsers

Abstract

This study attempted to find intuitive gestures for mobile web browsers and identify the basic elements that constitute multi-touch gestures for mobile devices. Thirty-six mobile phone users participated in an experiment in which they were asked to provide hand gestures appropriate for web browsing commands and explain the reasons. A total of 642 gestures were collected for 18 web browsing commands. Identical gestures were classified into the same group, and the degree to which the participants agreed on each gesture (agreement level) was evaluated. The average agreement level was 0.16. Six important gesture elements were also identified from the collected gestures. These elements are expected to be very useful in describing complex gestures formally and in providing designers with helpful guidelines, such as identifying dominant elements. This study successfully collected gestures that are intuitive to users, but further research is necessary to design the final gesture set.