IPad ergonomics: "he looks uncomfortable" | Hacker News Reader

IPad ergonomics: "he looks uncomfortable"

nedbatchelder.com

36 pointsjbellis21 comments

I think a lot of the awkwardness in the presentation and the other videos was partly due to the fact that there were cameras watching and it was a demonstration so they had to make the movements very obvious. This would perhaps have made the motions more exaggerated and unnatural looking. Think of that feeling you get when someone is watching you at the keyboard type or doing something that you would not normally think too hard about. The moment you start thinking about it is when you mess up.

I for one think that the interface looks very intuitive and quite easy to get to grips with. I think it should be more comfortable since you don't need to learn how to interact with the device. Holding and interacting with it should become quite a natural thing.

Your comment speaks about awkwardness derived from the difficulties of giving a presentation. The article speaks about awkwardness derived from potential ergonomic issues.

You've made some good points, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

This article raises points that I've been wondering about myself. The thinner cross-section and lack of non-interactive space in front represent a significant potential gripping issue, at least for those with larger hands or arthritis. These aren't present in iPhone shapes since you can alternatively grip it with your hand wrapped from the left to right. Anecdotally speaking, when playing my Nintendo DS Lite for longer periods, my hands cramp up from clutching the thinner form factor. This makes me wonder how I would be holding an iPad comfortably.

How would you expect to hold yours?

For serious input, I'd have it lying flat or slightly inclined. For meetings, I'd have it on a stand on the tabletop. For Augmented Reality, I'd be holding it out in front of me, possibly with both hands.

This post was made with a Windows tablet, BTW, as have all my posts for a week. My tc1100 works best lying flat for serious input. I suspect that will also be true for a non-stylus interface.

...and lack of non-interactive space in front...

Are you saying that the bezel around the display responds to touch inputs? If so, do you have a citation?

Agreed. And not only is he on camera in front of thousands of people (one of them being Steve Jobs), he's also got a cable coming out of the dock connector going to the giant screen; if he unplugs it, it'd be a real interruption and distraction to the presentation. And, (especially on a not-yet-final product like the iPad) you'd worry about whether the external display would connect back up if you replugged it, etc...

I guess what I'm saying is that I sit way differently when my laptop's hooked up to, say, an external hard drive and I don't want to accidentally pull out the USB than when I'm curled up on the couch with a blanket and my worry-free not-attached-to-anything phone.

The bad ergonomics was my initial thought, too.

A laptop is bad enough in that the keyboard and the screen is too close together, forcing you to either tilt your neck forward or fold your elbows to get your hands high enough, but at least you can angle the screen and keyboard independently. To be able to type comfortably, the surface more or less needs to be aligned with your forearm, but on the Ipad, that will put the screen at a 45-degree angle from your eyes.

That's in addition to the difficulty of touch-typing on a multitouch surface. I used to have a Fingerworks Touchstream (the original multitouch controller), and it was very difficult to type on without moving your hands slightly and ending up on different keys. (And it even had a row of dots to give you a tactile sensation of where home row was.) If you were in an even slightly unstable situation -- forget it; totally unusable on a train or bus.

I can see how it could be useful for watching videos or passive browsing, but not for any amount of extended typing.

not for any amount of extended typing

Agreed, but there's an ace in the hole: It apparently supports Bluetooth keyboards out of the box.

I have literally been waiting for this for fifteen years: A portable machine that (a) lets me carry a little portable keyboard that can be separated from the display, and (b) doesn't also make me carry around a useless extra keyboard that is attached to the display. (I don't like laptop keyboards. They are almost as un-ergonomic as the iPad's virtual keyboard is likely to be.)

Now if only we can get the thing to run emacs...

A portable machine that (a) lets me carry a little portable keyboard that can be separated from the display, and (b) doesn't also make me carry around a useless extra keyboard that is attached to the display.

HP's tc1100 already does this, and it's 5 years old.

Ah, I didn't know about the Bluetooth. That's nice.

Get back to me when you have Emacs and xterms working and I might consider getting one... ;-)

One of the most interesting things for me was Steve Jobs' facial expressions as he was sitting on the chair demonstrating the iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eVCFXxgn2M&feature=chann...

After practically every phrase, he tightly closes his mouth. It made it seem, to me at least, that he really didn't believe what he was saying. No doubt having an audience of millions contributed to him wanting to carefully control anything that comes out of his mouth, but it was hard for me not to get that impression.

Interesting hypothesis, Dr. Lightman, but doesn't the principle of parsimony makes your eyes wander towards a more basic explanation like health?

Yes, I did consider that his health might also be an explanation. Probably should have mentioned that. Regardless, the impression I get from watching the demo is still the same.

Pointless article. Why can't people just wait until the device is released and hold one in their hands before trying to judge how comfortable this thing is.

This is not possible with the device as it stands BUT:

A possible solution is to extend the multitouch area around the sides and back(to sense the grip) and cancel out any grip finger movements.

So floating pointing finger still is sensed but slight movements in gripping hand should not wreck things.

And when he has to touch with both hands, they keep crossing over each other like some kind of crazy-advanced piano sonata.

The author has never had piano lessons, I see. I remember hand crossing being taught in John Thompson's first grade book. (I verified this before posting.)

Maybe a case with a loop on the back would help for the one-handed manipulations.

That wss my thought exactly. Of course, that would be very un-Apple like, but perhaps 3rd parties will release various ergonomic enhancements such as this.

There is a core principle in human factors and ergonomics - the hand is a lousy holding device. Too many small muscle groups - fatigue easily. More prone to injury. Maintaining neutral postures in wrist a real challenge - static wrist flexion &/or wrist extension causes pain, discomfort, then injury. iPad is a Musculoskeletal Disorder waiting to happen. Check out our blog post on this issue - http://bit.ly/ERGOLABiPAD

The part about 20s in where he demonstrates dragging multiple slides looks excruciating. This is "we barely got something to work so we could check it off," not "elegant."

It took me a while to get used to using my iPod Touch when I first got one (since upgraded to iPhone 3GS). While it's certainly possible there will be ergonomic issues with the iPad, I wouldn't worry about it until we see those sorts of reports from people who have used the device for days instead of for 10-15 minute demos.

Won't you be sitting down at a table most of the time, as if you were writing? Or sitting with the iPad in your lap, like you would a book?

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