04-12-2022, 03:53 PM
(02-10-2021, 10:32 PM)Has this changed in the interval since you posted this answer, Ting? I am working on a mouse-tracking study, and when my collaborator wanted to test it out, she got the message that 'This study requires an external mouse, please connect one and refresh your browser'.I am wondering two things:1. My collaborator in fact IS using an external mouse. It's wireless, but presumably that doesn't matter? Why might she be getting that message?2. Can this requirement be turned off? Does mousetracking not work with built-in trackpads etc? Thanks!Ting Wrote: This is a good question, and the answer is a bit complex. There is some information that we can get: what browsers they are using, what the screen resolution is, and what the participant's local time is, etc. However, most hardware specs, like those you listed, are not (yet). This is because modern browsers are treated as "sandboxes" for security reasons. Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, etc purposefully hide hardware-level information from web apps to prevent malicious actions that a rogue app may take.
That being said, Google is working on a proprietary API that will expose more hardware details. This is unfortunately a controversial plan and opposed by many in the field, for very good reasons. We are monitoring these developments.
In other words, unfortunately, such hardware-level information cannot be obtained at the time being. Sorry for the disappointing news.