PresActive

Overview

PresActive is a web-based application for creating slide-based presentations, controlled entirely through touchless mid-air hand gestures. The project was developed as part of my Master of Science degree at the University of Dundee, investigating how touchless interaction influences the design, usability, and user acceptance of productivity software.

The Challenge

Touchless interaction is becoming increasingly popular across many industries, but applying it to complex productivity software raises unique design questions. Key challenges included:

• Finding gestures that map intuitively to editing controls
• Balancing gesture innovation with user acceptance
• Exploring how touchless input fundamentally changes interface design

The Process

• Literature Review: Surveyed existing research on touchless interaction to preselect technically usable and well-accepted gestures
• Gesture Mapping Study: Conducted a study in which application features were mapped to the preselected gestures by participants
• Interface Design: Created a user interface specifically optimized for touchless interaction, featuring a circular swipe context menu for swift access to all features
• Prototype Development: Built a functional web application with gesture recognition
• Usability Study: Evaluated the prototype with test participants, measuring usability ratings and user acceptance

The Solution

Key features designed and built:

• Circular Swipe Context Menu: Radial menu providing fast access to all editing features, optimized for mid-air gesture selection
• Dwell-Click Activation: Menu invocation through sustained cursor hover, a common approach in touchless interaction
• Gesture-Driven Interface: Minimal visual chrome, designed around the constraints of mid-air input
• Web-Based Platform: Cross-device compatibility via standard web technologies (HTML, JavaScript, jQuery)

Results & Impact

• High overall usability rating and high user acceptance in the evaluation
• Most participants described the experience as "fun" despite experiencing tired arms after extended use (gorilla-arm syndrome)
• The dwell-click approach was criticized as too ineffective, a well-known open problem in the field of touchless interaction
• The project contributed insights into how touchless input modalities influence UI design patterns

View research poster