One fitts’ law, two metrics

Abstract

Movement time in Fitts’ law is usually considered through the ambiguous notion of the average of minimum movement times. In this paper, we argue that using two distinct metrics, one relating to minimum time and the other relating to average time can be advantageous. Both metrics have a lot of support from theoretical and empirical perspectives. We also give two examples, one in a controlled experiment and the other in a field study of pointing, where making the minimum versus average distinction is fruitful.