Comparing usage of a large high-resolution display to single or dual desktop displays for daily work

Abstract

With the ever increasing amount of digital information, users desire more screen real estate to process their daily computing work, and might well benefit from using a wallsize large high-resolution display instead of a desktop one. Unfortunately, we know very little about users' behaviors when using such a display for daily computing. We present a week-long study that investigates large display use in a personal desktop computing context by comparing it with single and dual desktop monitor use. Results show users' unanimous preference for using a large display: it facilitates multi-window and rich information tasks, enhances users' awareness of peripheral applications, and offers a more "immersive" experience. Further, the data reveals distinct usage patterns in partitioning screen real estate and managing windows on a large display. Detailed analysis of these results provides insights into designing interaction techniques and window management systems more suited to a large display.

Subtle and Personal Workspace Requirements for Visual Search Tasks on Public Displays

“…Similarly the presence of interior bezels, may influence user behaviour on and around large public displays. For example, while research suggests that bezels have little impact on visual search performance [3,18], they may impact where users stand or choose to place content [4].…”

HiReD

“…Projected Powerwalls provide a seamless display between the joins, but are expensive. More recently, the University of Toronto [6] installed a rear-projected Powerwall with resolutions of 22 million pixels. The University of Konstanz has a rear projection Powerwall with only 8.9 million pixels, but it has the advantage of providing a stereo view 3 .…”

“…The CUBE display at the Queensland University of Technology employs a hybrid approach of both TFT and projected displays 6 . When physically navigating, users can move close to view detail through the eye-level screens, then step back to view the context on the large projected displays seated above them.…”

“…Powerwall displays can enrich interaction with day-to-day desktop applications by enhancing users' awareness of peripheral applications [6]. Powerwalls also support multi-window tasks such as document analysis [1], where analysts can create spatial environments similar in appearance to the arrangement of paper documents on a desk.…”

“…It has been found that, with large display interaction, users work within a small focal region and place unwanted windows in the periphery [6,14]. When users are seated in front of a wall, the focal region can be assumed to be the central area of the display.…”