Comment 0 for bug 672766

Right now, the only feedback from the touchpad is when the cursor moves (or screen scrolls, or whatever). We get no feedback on what our fingers are doing on the touchpadsurface itself or what the touchpad is experiencing. When we write, we see the lettering as it is appearing immediately on the paper as the pen is forming the letter or pattern. Or when we fingerpaint, we see bold, curvy strokes of color trailing behind our moving finger(s). We need that same feedback with the touchpad.

1) When the touchpad detects pressure/presence/finger touch, a shadow (or more aesthetic graphic representation thereof) of the pressure points/spots should appear on the computer screen with transparency proportional to pressure.

2) The touchpad positional domain should map directly onto the computer screen (though the user could adjust the size of the representational area the touchpad map takes up on the screen).

3) The touchpad mapping will be completely invisible Unless the touchpad feels pressure or is actively being used. When the touchpad actively detects activity, a faint transparent boundary is drawn on the computer screen representing the touchpad area (whose size is configured by the user) and pressure shadows appear where fingers or pressures are applied on the touchpad surface. The touchpad graphics will then disappear when activity stops after a brief moment of delay. The graphics will always be transparent so that they will never block out the work content beneath it and so that visual annoyance is minimized.

4) Drag trails can be drawn with fadeout so that gestures can clearly be seen on the screen. A good example is using the broad paint brush in photoshop. Multitouch gestures will have different colors assigned to each separate finger or pressure activation. A cool effect would be that fade out is progressive so the beginning of a gesture starts fading earlier than later parts of the gesture (like the way a dust trail dissipates when a motor bike rides by or the way a con trail dilutes and spreads when a fighter jet flys by and then fades from the sky later on). Timing and effects themes could be configurable by the user.

5) We can build in visible feedback cues for action triggers such as left button, right button, double/triple clicks, scrolling, dwells or lingerings, and for disabled access behaviours/features.

6) We can have the various differently defined areas within the touchpad mapping shown and possibly labled along with the overall boundary. Examples are the scroll region to the right or across the bottom edge (I have often tried to scroll, but landed my fingers outside the scroll region). Another example is the grid pattern overlaid upon the touchpad gesture region which is used to measure gesture motion.

7) An immediate benefit is the feedback we get when accidentally brushing or grazing the touchpad while typing. We will see that an action has occurred and immediately stop typing. I often have the cursor move accidentally to another part of the screen because of an accidental brushing of pressure on the touchpad and yet I continue typing until I notice something wrong. Then I have to find where the cursor went to, deleted the extra characters, then go back and take up where I left off.