1 The seminal work on Fitts’ Law is “The Information Capacity of the Human Motor System in Controlling Amplitude of Movement” by Paul M. Fitts, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1954, vol. 4, p. 381–191. The Fitts’ law equation is MT = a + b log2 (d/s + 1), where MT = movement time to a target; a = 0.230 sec; b = 0.166 sec; d = distance between pointing device and target; and s = size of the target. For example, assume the distance between the center of a screen and an icon of 1” (3 cm) diameter is 6” (15 cm). The time to acquire the icon would be MT = 0.230 sec + 0.166 sec (log2 (6/1 + 1)) = 0.7 sec.

2 See “Human Performance Times in Microscope Work” by Gary Langolf and Walton M. Hancock, AIIE Transactions, 1975, vol. 7(2), p. 110–117; and ...

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