2026 June 12
Exploring One-Handed Thumb-to-Finger Text Composition Systems for Head Mounted Displays
Type:
Conference
Authors:
Rishav Banerjee, Shariff AM Faleel, and Pourang Irani
Venue:
DIS '26
Date of publication:
2026 June 12
Abstract:
Head-mounted displays increasingly require text entry that goes beyond character input to support real-world writing and editing. Existing HMD text entry research and systems focus primarily on entry speed and accuracy, while offering limited support for cursor control, navigation, and command execution. Midair and voice-based techniques address some needs but suffer from fatigue, limited affordances, and poor discoverability of editing functions. This work investigates one-handed thumb-to-finger text composition for HMDs, combining on-body input with hand-proximate visual interfaces that provide tactile feedback and spatial guidance. We map the design space of such systems across input, editing, command invocation, and visualization. Through participatory design workshops with 18 designers, we elicit concrete concepts for one-handed text composition on HMDs. From these artifacts, we derive five implementable design guidelines focused on discoverability and complex text composition.
Citation:
Rishav Banerjee, Shariff Am Faleel, and Pourang Irani. 2026. Exploring One-Handed Thumb-to-Finger Text Composition Systems for Head Mounted Displays. In Proceedings of the 2026 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1806–1818. https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3812913
@inproceedings{10.1145/3800645.3812913,
author = {Banerjee, Rishav and Faleel, Shariff Am and Irani, Pourang},
title = {Exploring One-Handed Thumb-to-Finger Text Composition Systems for Head Mounted Displays},
year = {2026},
isbn = {9798400725630},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3812913},
doi = {10.1145/3800645.3812913},
abstract = {Head-mounted displays increasingly require text entry that goes beyond character input to support real-world writing and editing. Existing HMD text entry research and systems focus primarily on entry speed and accuracy, while offering limited support for cursor control, navigation, and command execution. Midair and voice-based techniques address some needs but suffer from fatigue, limited affordances, and poor discoverability of editing functions. This work investigates one-handed thumb-to-finger text composition for HMDs, combining on-body input with hand-proximate visual interfaces that provide tactile feedback and spatial guidance. We map the design space of such systems across input, editing, command invocation, and visualization. Through participatory design workshops with 18 designers, we elicit concrete concepts for one-handed text composition on HMDs. From these artifacts, we derive five implementable design guidelines focused on discoverability and complex text composition.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 Designing Interactive Systems Conference},
pages = {1806–1818},
numpages = {13},
keywords = {Thumb-to-Finger Interactions, Hand Proximate User Interface, Text Entry System},
location = {},
series = {DIS '26}
}