View Single Post
Capt'n Corrupt's Avatar
Posts: 3,524 | Thanked: 2,958 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant
#143
Originally Posted by TheTree View Post
It seems as though there are two sides to the stylus/finger debate: Those who want a finger-optimized UI for convenience and those who want a stylus-based UI for data density and desktop similarities. And then someone mentioned sticking a trackpad on one of these things...

I say we already have a trackpad, it just isn't used as such - usually.

Pardon me while I go on a tangent here. Wacom Pen tablets have this interesting feature: they can be used in pen mode or mouse mode. In mouse mode, it acts like a normal computer mouse. Cursor movement is relative. In pen mode, cursor movement is absolute. That is, each point on the tablet refers to a specific point on the screen.

Touch screens are almost always absolute. Tap on the screen somewhere and a click is registered there. However, there are exceptions, including at least one on the Internet Tablets: Bluemaemo. Bluemaemo can be used to control your Windows or Linux desktop with the touchscreen on your tablet acting like a normal trackpad.

Why not allow people to use the touchscreen as a trackpad for the tablet itself? Most apps can be easily finger optimized and used in a normal, absolute mode. But for data-dense apps like gnumeric, the touchscreen could be switched into a relative cursor movement mode, with a visible cursor.

Perhaps someone with far superior programming knowledge than me could hack something llike this up for Diablo.

And we now return to your regularly scheduled program.
*Stands up and applauds*

Its rare to have articulated such an elegant solution. You Sir (Madam?) are special.

I was actually thinking that it would be a cool hack to have a slot in a notebook computer for the tablet, where it could double as a utility screen and a touch pad. But using the device as a touch pad for its own cursor is brilliant!

Kudos.

Anyone care to code a quick test app, so that we might play with this idea?


YARR!
}:^)~

Kiggidy Corrupt
 

The Following User Says Thank You to Capt'n Corrupt For This Useful Post: