Hands across the screen
School of Computing Staffordshire University Stafford, ST18 0DG, UK. email: alan@hcibook.com
Full reference: A. Dix (1998). Hands Across the Screen - why scrollbars are on the right and other stories. Interfaces 37 pp. 19-22. Spring 1998. (also appears as SOCTR/97/06, Staffordshire University, 1997) http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/scrollbar/ See also: short update article after conversations with Xerox Star developers: Sinister Scrollbar in the Xerox Star Xplained. Interfaces 38 p. 11. Summer 1998. my pages on why little things matter in interface design discussion in comp.humanfactors on Why are the scrollbar placed at the righthand side of the document frame? Why are scrollbars on the right, and is it the best place for them? There are good reasons to think that the left-hand side may be the better choice, but in virtually every interface since the Xerox Star the scrollbar has appeared on the right-hand side. In this short paper we'll look at this issue and also at the design of a browser several years ago, which raised similar issues in the placement of on-screen buttons. In both cases, the best placement does not look right when you see it statically, but feels right when it is used. The reason for this discrepancy is an aversion to virtual hands across the screen. keywords: scrollbar, eye movement, screen design, ergonomics Just another scrollbar
A. Dix (1998). Hands Across the Screen - why scrollbars are on the right and other stories. Interfaces 37 pp. 19-22. Spring 1998. (also appears as SOCTR/97/06, Staffordshire University, 1997) http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/scrollbar/
