>like?
>
>List me situations in which they save time and which can't
>alternatively be done using keyboard/mouse!
There are many environments and work situations where keyboards and mice are not the ideal fit.
We used touch screen hardware to control industrial cutting lasers in my last job.
Asking the operator to press the Escape key to halt a 5,000 watt laser that's going awry is not good interface design. It's much easier to use his finger to press the huge honkin "STOP" button that takes up half the screen.
It's also more intuitive when tweaking power settings for the lasers to "drag" the level bar with your finger, instead of riding the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard.
In my current job, our software interfaces to huge multi-ton hoppers for dispensing the ingredients for concrete. Using a keyboard is just as inconvenient in this environment. The big "STOP" button is just as important, as much as when the batch guy has to watch the batching process through a dusty window, while keeping his fingers on the screen to fine tune water flow rates. Highlighting the right control then using the arrow keys just doesn't work.
We're quite happy with the possibilities that OS standardized multi-touch can bring to our work.
Did I mention all the dust? Keyboards and mice don't like that, either...
>
>List me situations in which they save time and which can't
>alternatively be done using keyboard/mouse!
There are many environments and work situations where keyboards and mice are not the ideal fit.
We used touch screen hardware to control industrial cutting lasers in my last job.
Asking the operator to press the Escape key to halt a 5,000 watt laser that's going awry is not good interface design. It's much easier to use his finger to press the huge honkin "STOP" button that takes up half the screen.
It's also more intuitive when tweaking power settings for the lasers to "drag" the level bar with your finger, instead of riding the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard.
In my current job, our software interfaces to huge multi-ton hoppers for dispensing the ingredients for concrete. Using a keyboard is just as inconvenient in this environment. The big "STOP" button is just as important, as much as when the batch guy has to watch the batching process through a dusty window, while keeping his fingers on the screen to fine tune water flow rates. Highlighting the right control then using the arrow keys just doesn't work.
We're quite happy with the possibilities that OS standardized multi-touch can bring to our work.
Did I mention all the dust? Keyboards and mice don't like that, either...