Touchscreen field specification for public access database queries: let your fingers do the walking

Database query is becoming a common task in public access systems; touchscreens can provide an appealing interface for such a system. This paper explores three interfaces for constructing queries on alphabetic field values with a touchscreen interface; including a QWERTY keyboard, an Alphabetic keyboard, and a Reduced Input Data Entry (RIDE) interface. The RIDE interface allows field values to be entered with fewer “keystrokes” (touches) than either keyboard while eliminating certain errors. In one test database, the RIDE interface required 69% fewer keystrokes than either keyboard interface.