TapBoard

This research introduces TapBoard, an innovative software keyboard designed to restore the "touched" state in touchscreen interactions, bridging the gap between physical and digital typing experiences. While traditional touchscreens typically support only two states—released and touched—physical keys offer a third "pressed" state that facilitates resting and tactile alignment. By redefining tapping actions as keystrokes and sustained touches as the touched state, this project enables users to rest their fingers on the screen without triggering accidental inputs. Experimental results validate that users quickly adapt to this interaction model, maintaining text-entry performance equivalent to traditional software keyboards while gaining the ability to perform seamless gesture-based operations like cursor control and text formatting directly from the home row. This project significantly enhances the usability of large-scale touch devices, such as tablets and tabletops, by integrating tactile-friendly behaviors with advanced multi-touch capabilities.