A pointing device is a human input interface device that allows a user to input spatial data into a computer. Pointing devices allow users to control and provide data to a computer using physical gestures such as moving a hand-held mouse or similar device across the surfaces of a physical desktop and activating switches on the mouse. Movement of the pointing device is mirrored on the monitor or screen by movements of the cursor and other visual changes. Common pointing device gestures include point & click and drag & drop. There are many different types of pointing devices. This blog will examine the main types of pointing devices and how they work.
Before looking at the types of pointing devices, it is important to understand the different classifications. There are four primary classifications: direct/indirect input, absolute/relative movement, isotonic/elastic/isometric, and position control/rate control. In a direct-input pointing device, the pointer is at the same physical positioning as the pointing device (like a finger on a touch screen), while the positioning is not the same in an indirect-input device (like a computer mouse). An absolute movement input device provides consistent mapping between a point and input space and a point on the output space, while relative movement input devices map displacement on the input space to displacement in the output state. An example of an absolute-movement device is a stylus, while an example of a relative-movement device is a joystick.
An isotonic pointing device is movable and measures its displacement. Isometric devices, on the other hand, are fixed and measure the force which acts on it. An elastic device increases its force resistance with displacement . Finally, a position-control input device directly changes the absolute or relative position of the on-screen pointer, while a rate-control input device alters the speed and direction of the movement of the on-screen pointer.
Now that we have established the different classifications of pointing devices, we can look at their main types. There are five main types of pointing devices: mouse, trackball, touchpad, touchscreen, and stylus/digital pen.
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