The numeric keypad for digital travel: There was a time when fingers danced over the keys of hand cranked calculators to do math fast. This depended on the numeric keypad, a cornerstone to our economic and scientific abilities and integral to current computer keypads. In one version of our software, we formatted the display of menus to replicate the layout of the numeric keypad, with 10 items similarly presented to the user, so that presenting a numbered key would select the item associated with that corresponding number. In this scenario, choosing items from a sequence of menus presents an exponential number of choices to the user, or 1000 choices.
Keypad versus the mouse: If you use a calculator app on yourcomputer often, you may quickly learn that it is far faster to use the numerickeypad than the mouse for selection of numbers for multiple calculations. Using a mouse to navigate through multiple web pages gives greatflexibility, but requires time to process more information and options than a menuwith a finite number of selectable items. During the review of multiple web pages,many more options are presented, with greater complexity.More time is needed to process more information, presented in differentformats, and mouse selection of items requires precision and time for cursorpositioning, especially if items are distant to each other on the display.Consider the advantages of using a keypad for item selections on a web page,such as the display of menus with the numeric keypad format. These menus could be prompted, hidden, moved, or resizedas desired. Menu headings and item labels would categorize the options on agiven website so that tapping on the numeric keypad or touch sensitive display would speed selections and internet navigation. This functionality would enhance and not obviate using the mouse, since different users may have different ​preferences at different times.
Summary: It is human nature to get entrenched in a way of doing things and follow the momentum of past thought. Yet other options are available in the toolbox that can enhance human machine interactivity. Keypad control is such an option. It is well suited to selection of similarlyformatted items on a menu. Our software model represents its reinvention for this use.
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