Addressing Complexity Between Controller and Display: Using Discrete and Continuous Concepts

Control devices are essential for interacting with displays in various fields. Therefore, effectively designing these controls and displays is crucial to ensure timely task completion and error avoidance. However, the complexity of these interactions has increased as the number of buttons on controllers has decreased while the amount of displayed information has grown. This study addresses usability issues caused by increased complexity. With familiar smart TV remote controls, we experimented with seven participants performing tasks using discrete and continuous controllers over 3 days. We measured task completion time (TCT) and user satisfaction to evaluate performance and learnability. Results showed that continuous controllers performed better for typing tasks, while discrete controllers excelled in content selection tasks. This study clarifies the interaction between tasks on displays and controllers by applying discrete and continuous concepts. Using commercially available remote controls in a familiar environment increases the generalizability of the findings. Further research in different domains and with dimension concepts can help address user discomfort with controllers that have fewer buttons but numerous functions.