Effects of Palm and WinCE menu-design for PDA on users' operating performance and subjective preference

This study investigated the effects of the type of menu (WinCE and Palm) and the stage of usage (whether the current usage is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or eighth day of usage) on the users' performance in operating a menu displayed in the first, second, or third layers of a PDA display. The findings of this study indicated that the subjects performed significantly differently in response to Palm and WinCE menus displayed in the first and second layers. The Palm menu resulted in better operating performance. However, the Palm and WinCE menus displayed in the third layer did not result in significantly different operating performance. In addition, the amount of previous use significantly affected users' operating performance only with menus displayed in all the layers. The operating performance improved as the usage time increased. Regarding the subjects' subjective preferences, using the Palm-menu design was initially favored more than the WinCE-menu; however, their preferences for using both menus increased with the usage time.