The Effect of Dwell Time on Swipe-based Pie-Menu Navigation Efficiency

Abstract

In this paper we present and analyze pie-menu implementation for touchscreen mobile devices which supports swipe-based navigation through deep hierarchical menu configurations. We propose a solution that synergistically encompasses important design features for a given context: radial menu visualization, semi-transparency, manual repositioning, occlusion awareness, and marking menu concept. From the menu navigation efficiency standpoint, dwell time represents one of the most influential factors in such a design. Reducing the time needed to automatically activate submenus could potentially provide faster navigation through the pie-menu hierarchy; however, short dwell times could make swipe-based interaction more error-prone, as unintentional item selections are then more probable. Therefore, we specifically investigate the effect of dwell time on navigation efficiency when using the proposed solution. A remotely administered experiment involving 36 participants was carried out in order to empirically evaluate different dwell time values. The interaction style, i.e. the way of holding a smartphone device, was also taken into account as an independent variable. We present the results of this empirical research, additionally tackling the interaction workload, usability attributes, and overall design considerations of the proposed solution. According to the obtained results, we argue that highly adaptable pie-menus could provide interaction benefits in the mobile touchscreen domain.