touch pad

Cursor control area

A touch pad is a flat, touch-sensitive surface used as a pointing device, most commonly built into laptop computers as an alternative to a mouse.

Moving a finger across the pad controls the cursor on screen, while tapping or pressing simulates clicking.

Touch pads may also support multi-finger gestures for scrolling, zooming, or switching between applications.

The term is sometimes spelled as one word: touchpad.

computing

trackpad

Laptop pointing device

  • cursorOn-screen position indicator
  • clickBrief sharp noise
  • tapValve controlling liquid flow

scroll · gesture · pinch · zoom · drag · drop · swipe · navigation · sensitivity · precision

hardware

capacitive

Relating to charge storage

notebook · embedded · built-in · rectangular · integrated · Elan · USB · wireless · external · replacement

Categories
Opposites
input device type

touch padmechanical mouse

Wired cursor control device

mouse · trackball · wired mouse · joystick · stylus

interaction modality

touch padvoice control

Device operation via speech

speech recognition · eye tracking · gesture control · motion control · brain-computer interface

Family

touch, pad, touched, touching, touches, touchable, untouchable, touchy, pads

Familiarity
Top 100,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G