Touchpad Trackpad Standards

January 26, 2023

Some examples of standards related to touchpads and trackpads include:

ISO/IEC 9241-9: Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) – Part 9: Requirements for non-keyboard input devices

ISO/IEC 9241-9 is an international standard that provides ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs). It is part of the ISO/IEC 9241 series, which covers ergonomics of human-computer interaction. Part 9 of this series focuses on the requirements for non-keyboard input devices. This includes pointing devices such as mice, trackballs, and touchpads, as well as other input devices such as joysticks and game controllers.

ISO/IEC 9995-7: Information technology – Keyboard layouts for text and office systems – Part 7: Alphanumeric section – Additional Latin-based characters

ISO/IEC 9995-7 is an international standard that defines layout principles for computer keyboards. It does not define specific layouts but provides the base for national and industry standards which define such layouts. Part 7 of this series focuses on the alphanumeric section of the keyboard, and specifies additional Latin-based characters. This includes characters such as the exclamation mark, quotation marks, percent sign, ampersand, asterisk, parentheses, plus sign, comma, hyphen, period, slash, colon, semicolon, less than sign, equals sign, greater than sign, question mark, and underscore.

ISO/IEC 16462: Human-centred design for interactive systems – Requirements and guidelines for the design of hand-held and finger-operated pointing devices.

ISO/IEC 16462 is an international standard that provides requirements and guidelines for the design of hand-held and finger-operated pointing devices. This includes devices such as mice, trackballs, and touchpads, as well as other input devices such as joysticks and game controllers. The standard covers aspects such as size, shape, and weight, as well as the placement of buttons and other controls. It also covers the ergonomics of using these devices, including the positioning of the user's hands and fingers.

These standards provide guidelines for the design of touchpads and trackpads such as:

Positioning and size of the touchpad or trackpad

The minimum and maximum size of the active area The tactile feedback of the touchpad or trackpad The number of buttons and their placement The minimum and maximum force required to activate the touchpad or trackpad The accuracy and precision of the touchpad or trackpad The accessibility and ease of use of the touchpad or trackpad for people with disabilities

It's worth noting that these are international standards and are not mandatory. It's up to the vendors to implement them.

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