With all the recent talk around the impending launch of the Apple Tablet, it got me thinking about human-computer interfaces. I have always been fascinated with interfaces from the first time I saw a computer punchcard, and have always believed that getting the interface right and making it disappear have a dramatic impact on how much we get out of our technology - both in terms of productivity and usability.

There has been a thirty year struggle to improve upon the basic keyboard as a method of interacting with our computers. The first real break-though was the mouse - which today does not seem overly revolutionary, but at the time was a hugh step forward. That said, the basic concept of the mouse has not been really improved upon - yes we have trackpads and now gesture based mice, however the mouse is still cumbersome to use - its interruptive - you need to stop what you are doing, use the mouse, and then return to what you were doing. For most of us, this has become second nature, however it breaks your flow.

The next major area of interface development was focused on trying to mimic natural behaviours such as speech and writing. Whilst speech recognition software has greatly improved, I doubt we will be talking to our computers "star-trek style" anytime soon. Speech input also has practical limitations - not great for an open plan office!

I did hold out hope for handwriting recognition - Apple were clearly ahead of the times with the Apple Newton - however I have come to realise that typing is overtaking writing as a natural input method. Even without touch typing skills, most people can type at a fairly fast rate, the text is always legible and it can be manipulated in a variety of ways. As sad as it is, it is likely that writing skills will take a back seat to typing skills - and as a result I doubt we will see interface designers putting large amounts of energy into handwriting recognition projects.

So what will the future of computer interfaces look like? It will be about touch!

I think we have seen a glimpse of it with the iPhone, and if Apple does release a tablet this week, you can be guaranteed it will incorporate a heavy use of a multi-touch and gesture based interface. Touch interfaces are very natural, they can change and adapt to the immediate need, and they can disappear when not needed. Below is a video from TED 2006 where Jeff Han from NYU demonstrates the possibilities of a touch interface - very cool.

Whilst its obvious that a touch interface does not make sense in every single application, I think we will see increased use of touch and gesture based interfaces - the technology has caught up to make them practical, and they are naturally understood by people - we are comfortable exploring our world through touch. So perhaps a "minority report" style interface is not that far away at all .... 

What are your thoughts on touch/gesture based interfaces? Where do you see the trend heading and what would you like to see developed in this area?