Goal-snapping: an empirical evaluation of object snapping in tangible and multi-touch interfaces

Abstract

We present “Goal-snapping”, a novel approach for applying snapping techniques to tangible and multi-touch interfaces. It can be used to support users in accomplishing basic tasks such as aligning, sorting or grouping of virtual objects. As using snapping on large surfaces poses challenges in interaction design, we identify and discuss according parameters in Goal-snapping. For sorting and aligning, we propose to use snappers that attract objects within a target zone and visually arrange them to present an overview. For exchanging objects among users, we propose that each user has a target snapper that acts as a goal to which objects can be flicked. A user study has shown that although participants embrace the use of snapping to automatically group objects in a sorting task, snapping does not accelerate the completion time and increases the error rate by accidently snapped objects. In a long distance positioning task, the use of snapping significantly increases task completion.