Scrolling is ubiquitous in our daily computing experience. We explore how single-handed microgestures can be used for scrolling. Based on an analysis of the basic components necessary for scrolling, we selected 3 microgestures: Tap, Hold and Drag. Considering both rate and position controls, we designed 4 microgesture-based scrolling techniques adapted to these 3 microgestures. We contrasted these 4 techniques in a laboratory experiment with 24 participants who performed 2 tasks: a reciprocal selection task, where participants scrolled the view to reach and select a target; and a counting task, where participants scrolled the view to count image occurrences. Our results suggest that the technique based on Drag microgestures with rate control is the most effective for scrolling operations, regardless of the task. This work demonstrates that microgestures, with their advantages for frequent everyday tasks, offer a promising approach to continuous and efficient scrolling control.

We explore the use of vibrotactile haptic cues for representing microgestures. We built a four-axes haptic device for providing vibrotactile cues mapped to all four fingers. We also designed six patterns, inspired by six most commonly studied microgestures. The patterns can be played independently on each axis of the device. We ran an experiment with 36 participants testing three different device locations (fingers, back of the hand, and forearm) for pattern and axis recognition. For all three device locations, participants interpreted the patterns with similar accuracy. We also found that they were better at distinguishing the axes when the device is placed on the fingers. Hand and Forearm device locations remain suitable alternatives but involve a greater trade-off between recognition rate and expressiveness. We report the recognition rates obtained for the different patterns, axes and their combinations per device location. These results per device location are important, as constraints of various kinds, such as hardware, context of use and user activities, influence device location. We discuss this choice of device location by improving literature microgesture-based scenarios with haptic feedback or feedforward.