Tilt-Scrolling: A Comparative Study of Scrolling Techniques for Mobile Devices

Abstract

Scrolling is a frequent operation on a mobile screen. The current scrolling method for a mobile device is both time-consuming and fatigue-prone, especially for one-handed interaction mode. In this study, we systematically evaluated six tilt-based scrolling techniques together with the base line through a repeated measure experiment participated by twenty-one subjects. The experimental results revealed that tilt-based scrolling techniques were more suitable for one-handed interaction with higher interaction performance and were less fatigue-prone than the base line. Tilt scrolling techniques with adaptive reference points outperformed those with the horizontal reference point in terms of scrolling speed and accuracy. The Step control function had higher interaction efficiency than the other two functions but was more error-prone. The results of our study have some implications for the design of scrolling techniques on mobile screens.