After my last post on the new firefox browser button, some might have thought: Ok, the button is bigger so it's easier to see, but can that be enough to improve the usability of the browser interface?
Well, there is a physical model which establishes the time to acquire a target as a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. This model, called Fitts' Law* was first published by Paul Fitts in 1954. The model initially referred to the act of touching a target**, with the advent of graphical user interfaces it has been adapted to pointing and clicking with a mouse.
So, the rational behind the new firefox browser button is this: the position of the button will remain the same (distance to target) so let's increase it's size. With this solution, not only the button is more visible, but according to Fitts' Law, the time to acquire the target should decrease.
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* see the book: Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler, page 82
** See the article: The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement, by Paul Fitts in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, (1954) vol.47, issue 6, pages 381-391.
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