Plymouth Township’s Stardock has released TouchTasks, an app that allows users to assign tasks to specific locations on the edges of touch screen computers and devices.
The touch sensitive area of a touch screen is larger than the display part of the screen, allowing users to launch tasks by touching specified zones on the screen.
By default, TouchTasks assigns the left middle edge of the touch screen to bring up a dock for launching apps. The right middle edge displays active windows to switch between. The top right is assigned to brightness control, and the top left brings up the on-screen keyboard. Users can change these defaults.
“Using Windows as a tablet has been challenging for some people,” says Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock. “What we wanted to do is create an app that lets users configure points on the screen edge that work the way they want them to work.”
On the new Surface Pro 7 and the Surface Pro X, the user can slide a finger from the left and right to bring up a screen of tasks and the action center. However, trying to use these devices as pure tablets often requires additional taps when compared to other tablets.
TouchTasks works on touchscreen monitors or devices that run Windows 10. It is available at an introductory price of $4.99, down from $9.99, through Stardock.
