Types of Input (Hardware, Touch, Human Touch etc)
| Mechanical Controls | Non-mechanically operated controls and keys | Touch-operated controls | Requires human touch | Tactilely discernable controls | Pointer / Cursor control | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard keyboard | x | x | Sometimes, arrow keys | |||
| Toggle switches | x | x | ||||
| Standard phone keypad | x | x | ||||
| Button | x | x | ||||
| Onscreen button | x | if touch screen | ||||
| Onscreen keyboard | x | if touch screen | ||||
| Eye gaze (with camera) | x | x | ||||
| Gesture (with accelerometer) | * | x* | Sometimes | |||
| Gesture (with camera) | x | Sometimes | ||||
| Mouse | x | x | ||||
| Trackball | x | x | ||||
| Touchpad | x | x | x | x | ||
| Pointing stick | x | x | ||||
| Joystick | x | x | ||||
| Drawing tablet | x | x
| ||||
| ANY TOUCH SCREEN | x | x | Tech. dependent (see below) | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Pressure-sensitive (resistive) (2nd most common) | * | x* | x | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Surface (acoustic / ultrasonic) wave | x | x | Soft touch | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Surface capacitive (typical) | x | x | Human touch | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Capacitive (skin or stylus) | x | x | Skin or stylus | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Tethered stylus capacitive | x | x | Stylus | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Projected capacitive | x | x | Near proximity of human tissue | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Infrared (optical grid) | x | x | x | |||
| TOUCH SCREEN Infrared (thermal) | x | x | Warm touch | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Strain gage | * | x* | x | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Optical imaging | x | x | x | |||
| TOUCH SCREEN Dispersive signal technology | * | x* | x | x | ||
| TOUCH SCREEN Acoustic pulse recognition | * | x* | x | ??? | x |
