UX for Beginners

Chapter 70. Touch versus Mouse

The psychology of any interface might be the same, but the practical details can be very different depending on what the device itself can do.

A Mouse Has Some Advantages Over a Finger

A mouse pointer (the little arrow) is an extension of your hand that lives on the screen, allowing you to interact with a bigger screen without even being near it.

Small and accurate

Since a mouse pointer isn’t a physical “thing,” it can be any size we want (in theory). In this case, smaller means more accurate. A mouse can actually select a single pixel, although one-pixel buttons are not recommended. But if you want to do something that requires fine control or lots of detail, like Photoshopping Justin Bieber in an underwear ad, then a mouse will perform better.

Ability to hover

A mouse pointer is like Samuel L. Jackson: always on screen. And the computer knows where it is. The best advantage of a mouse is that it can cause changes without clicking. When the user positions the pointer “over” a button or a menu (i.e., hovering), the interface can change color or reveal options that they didn’t even know about—that’s called discovery.

Selects items easily

A mouse can click small areas, between individual letters, or click-and-drag to select a specific area. This is also a big advantage over fingers, which block our view and scroll the screen when we “touch and drag.” The mouse pointer, therefore, is much better (or faster) when it comes to working with text and image editing, ...