Abstract
Graphical user interface elements can be selected faster if they are placed against the edge of the screen. Doing so creates an impenetrable border between the element and the edge of the screen that the mouse cursor cannot penetrate, which changes how users move the mouse resulting in quicker selection times. This study assessed the influence of visible width on selection time when targets did or did not have impenetrable borders. Ten participants selected targets that varied in Target Type (with or without impenetrable borders), Width (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cm), and Distance (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 cm). For a given width, targets with impenetrable borders were always selected faster than targets without impenetrable borders. Also, increasing the width of targets with impenetrable borders had little effect on selection time, whereas doing so when targets did not have impenetrable borders resulted in a substantial effect on selection time. The results indicate that a 1 cm wide target is adequate to make use of the advantage of edge targets in GUI design.
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