Display space usage and window management operation comparisons between single monitor and multiple monitor users

Abstract

The continuing trend toward greater processing power, larger storage, and in particular increased display surface by using multiple monitor supports increased multi-tasking by the computer user. The concomitant increase in desktop complexity has the potential to push the overhead of window management to frustrating and counterproductive new levels. It is difficult to adequately design for multiple monitor systems without understanding how multiple monitor users differ from, or are similar to, single monitor users. Therefore, we deployed a tool to a group of single monitor and multiple monitor users to log window management activity. Analysis of the data collected from this tool revealed that usage of interaction components may change with an increase in number of monitors, and window visibility can be a useful measure of user display space management activity, especially for multiple monitor users. The results from this analysis begin to fill a gap in research about real-world window management practices.

Improving Window Switching Interfaces

“…A previous study [1] found that the mean time between window switches is only 20.9 seconds and that users have more than eight windows open more than 78% of the time. It has also been reported that the average number of simultaneously opened windows increases with available display space: from four for single monitor users to up to 18 for users with multiple monitors [2].…”

“…Observations show that window switching activities were far more frequent than window creation, deletion, or geometry management. Hutchings et al [1] update these findings using automatic logs of 39 participants over a 3-week period. They report on how window management activities differ across single-and multi-monitor display use (in common with Grudin's earlier field study [6]) but their data also highlights important general characteristics of window management.…”

Quantifying the Performance Effect of Window Snipping in Multiple-Monitor Environments

“…One prominent study is that of the Rooms system [8] (notably the design of the Rooms tool was motivated by field research [3] just as snip was motivated by field research [7,9,10,11]). The Rooms study demonstrated the utility of what are today referred to as virtual desktops.…”

“…windows not receiving input from the user) while interaction takes place in the active window [7,9,10]. Applications are typically designed with an active user in mind, with little or no attention paid to how people might use the information displayed by an application when the window is not active.…”

DeskJockey: Exploiting Passive Surfaces to Display Peripheral Information

“…Studies of the use of multiple monitors have revealed that additional displays are often treated as a discrete place to view output, rather than being used to enlarge the user's active working area [6,7]. Additionally, secondary monitors are often used to monitor information in the periphery, providing "instant access to a resource in a known location in peripheral vision" [6].…”