novel visualization and interaction for large displays

1. novel visualization and interaction for large displays mary czerwinski microsoft research

2. vibe team • Patrick Baudisch • Mary Czerwinski • Brian Meyers • George Robertson • Greg Smith • Daniel Robbins • Desney Tan • Nuria Oliver

3. ignore science fiction at our peril Workstation in the world of the Matrix

4. large display surfaces are here Workstation in the real world

5. home setup Generic snapshot in real person’s bedroom

6. overview • initial large display research • prototypes around usability issues observed • visualization and interaction • new user experiences have to scale the wide continuum of displays • future directions

7. harris poll responses (7/02, N=1197)

8. use multimon no multimon 32% 30% plan to use multimon 38% multimon usage trends

9. why a larger display surface? • productivity benefits 10-30% (despite sw usability issues) • users prefer more display surface • pricesdropping fast • footprints getting smaller

10. 1st prototype--dSharp display • triple projection • matrox parhelia card • 3028 x764 resolution • 42 in. across • slightly curved • 120 degree FOV

11. task times – significant

12. user satisfaction - significant

13. windows layout - significant

14. tenets--large display ux • user studies show large display surfaces fundamentally change user interaction • designed tools to better understand/complement how work practice changes • large display surfaces provide non-linear productivity increases • additional space has different utility • e.g. focal/peripheral displays provide different cues

15. but…usability issues • why click to bring a clearly visible window into focus? caused many errors • where is my cursor? • where is my start button? • where is my taskbar? • where are my dialogs? • the software doesn’t know where the bezel is…

16. input: high density cursor

17. mouse ether start start blocked target warp ƒ target  gap between screens different res target non-side-by-side start target warp warp start ‚ high/low dpi „ • four problem scenarios • when trying to acquire a target across screens, the mouse gets warped (1,2), funneled (3), or even blocked (4) • solution (mouse ether) • make mouse space = space users see • allow mouse to move outside screens • faster target acquisition

18. input: drag-and-pop problem • large displays create long distance mouse movement • touch & pen input has problems moving between screen units solution • drag-and-pop brings proxies of targets to the user from across display surfaces • the user can complete drag interactions locally—no need to deal with distances or to cross display borders

19. vibelog: 2 research paths • 1st activity repository for studying windows usage in aggregate • can profile users based on display size • can be extended to visualize workflow and capture context • single user: capture task contexts to surface pertinent ui or provide reminders

20. multitask visualization • colored block for each time point and app • amount of shading indicates percentage of visibility of the window • tasks • subtasks

21. task switching visualization • switching tasks (red to blue) • how are email windows arranged and used? • compare to...

22. windows and task management issues emerge • larger displays = more open windows • multimon users arrange windows spatially • taskbar does not scale: • aggregation model not task-based • users can’t operate on groups of related windows

23. changes in window access patterns

24. multitasking support • vibelog • projectbar, layoutbar, groupbar • scalable fabric • task flasher

25. task management: groupbar • taskbar for lightweight grouping of windows • allows for multiple bars, spatial placement of bars • ~400 internal downloads • desktop snapshotting; task snapshots • licensing to external companies

26. task management: scalable fabric • configurable central focus + peripheral context • easy task switch from periphery to focus area • leverages human spatial memory • patented, 100s of downloads

27. task flasher • a more visual alt + tab • uses 3d scaling and selection animation • windows stay on the monitor on which they are positioned

28. visual search keyboard • problem: many touchscreen systems (eg. SmartBoard, TabletPC) have no keyboard • use software virtual keyboard • hard to hide password on a virtual keyboard • previous research showed users think anything on large display is considered public…they watch (Tan et al, CHI ‘03)

29. solution: secret passwords

30. scalable ui research • datelens with Ben Bederson • fishnet • multiblending • novel meeting support

31. datelens with Ben Bederson • fisheye representation of dates • compact overviews • user control over the view • integrated search (keyword)  • enables overviews, fluid navigation to discover patterns and outliers • integrated with outlook

32. “player” player ishnet • problem • does this page containthe search term “player”? • hard to say—long webpages are clipped • solution: fishnet • compresses off-focus content (fisheye view) • popouts preserve search terms in context • entire webpage & search terms in one view

33. table cloth • problem: • user wants to access content physically far away • solution: • pan the desktop to user • compress content to the right of focus • grab content you need and snap back

34. future vibe directions • novel interaction and visualization techniques that scale from small to very large displays • continued evaluation and iteration of designs from a user-centered perspective • more focus on collaboration and group awareness with large displays • more information: http://research.microsoft.com/research/vibe

35. thank you!

36. multiblending • user study • with multiblending: foreground and background more recognizable • problemwith traditional alpha blending: is this bush in palette or background? • solution multiblending:glass palette is clearly distinguished from background photo& background more recognizable • problems withtraditional “alpha blending” • loss of contrast for both layers • colors are not true anymore • interference makes it unclear which layer a feature belongs to • solution multiblending • blend based on perception oriented feature classes (CIE Lab color + edges) • to preserve feature in one layer eliminate that feature in other layers • example “glass palettes” (see above)

37. meeting support: wincuts • microsoft supports: • individual user productivity (eg. word, excel, …) • disseminating information (eg. powerpoint, sharepoint, …) • communication (eg. outlook, MSN messenger, …) • distance collaboration (eg. Netmeeting, Livemeeting, …) • but what about co-located collaborative work? • people bring different expertise and information on personal devices to meetings and need to share • today’s model is broken—only one person gets to display entire desktop at a time (for better or worse) • or, must share applications and files with others • what about private information? • what about ui that should be scaled for the task at hand?