Shrinking window operations for expanding display space

Abstract

Recent research and technology advances indicate that multiple monitor systems are likely to become commonplace in the near future. An important property of such systems is that the physical separation of the display prompts users to place windows entirely within monitors, and thus does not fully alleviate the problem of managing windows on smaller monitors. Another finding about multiple monitor systems is that an additional monitor often holds windows that help the user maintain awareness rather than support interaction with information, but that multiple monitor users tend not to have many more windows visible than their single-monitor counterparts. We therefore present a window shrinking operation that specifically intends to help users display a window's relevant information. The operation should help to create smaller windows to manage, helping the "small monitor management" problem and targeting use of awareness windows on multiple monitor systems.

Rapid construction of functioning physical interfaces from cardboard, thumbtacks, tin foil and masking tape

“…The designer creates a cutting (similar to those supported by the Snip [9] and WinCuts [20] systems) by selecting an area of the desktop. This cutting serves as a visual proxy for the corresponding screen area, and is updated regularly to track the appearance of that area.…”

“…Our approach is most similar to the end-user accessible "widget picker" provided with Phidgets [6], but uses an interactive window clipping approach to action specification inspired by the Snip [9] and WinCuts [20] systems. The Phidgets widget picker enabled end users of applications built with standard Windows™ components to tie activation of physical components to the activation of a GUI component.…”

Striving for ubiquitous citizenship with mobile PICOLA

“…Shrinking a window does not leave the appropriate information displayed to the user, the buddy list, as opposed to the interaction components. [5] To ensure Mobile PICOLA meets user goals, we added two visually prominent tabs for speaking and text chatting functions. Because mobile devices are not designed to be used in a stationary setting, we considered that users need to recover quickly from a distraction [7].…”

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

“…In response to the evident desire to control the information displayed by a window when in inactive use and the increasing percentage of display space showing inactive windows in the presence of multiple monitors, we proposed the notion of a window snipping operation that would allow a user to select a region of a window and show only that region [12]. Figure 1 illustrates the difference between snipping a window and resizing a window.…”

“…Figure 1 illustrates the difference between snipping a window and resizing a window. Since proposing the idea of a region-based interface to control displayed information in windows [11,12], we have developed a tool that implements the operation for everyday use in the Microsoft Windows XP system. We have also deployed the tool to a group of multiple-monitor participants in a field study of their window management practices with snip and without it [9].…”