Introducing haptic interactions in web application modeling

Haptic devices, providing tactile feedback to the user, by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions, are becoming a common way of user interaction in several fields of applications, from gaming, to mobile, automotive, etc. This innovative technology could be thought as suitable also for Web navigation in the near future, with haptic devices replacing mice and offering to the user a more immersive way of interaction. In this work we first provide an overview of the characteristics of current haptic technologies. Then, we propose a high-level graphical formalism for the specification of haptic behaviors that can be associated to the objects/widgets of a Web page. Some examples of haptic interaction on the Web and issues in the implementation of an haptic interface for the Web are also provided.