Off-limits: interacting beyond the boundaries of large displays

TY - GEN

T1 - Off-limits

T2 - 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

AU - Markussen, Anders

AU - Boring, Sebastian

AU - Jakobsen, Mikkel Rønne

AU - Hornbæk, Kasper

N1 - Conference code: 34

PY - 2016/5/7

Y1 - 2016/5/7

N2 - The size of information spaces often exceeds the limits of even the largest displays. This makes navigating such spaces through on-screen interactions demanding. However, if users imagine the information space extending in a plane beyond the display's boundaries, they might be able to use the space beyond the display for input. This paper investigates Off-Limits, an interaction concept extending the input space of a large display into the space beyond the screen through the use of mid-air pointing. We develop and evaluate the concept through three empirical studies in one-dimensional space: First, we explore benefits and limitations of off-screen pointing compared to touch interaction and mid-air on-screen pointing; next, we assess users' accuracy in off-screen pointing to model the distance-to-screen vs. accuracy trade-off; and finally, we show how Off-Limits is further improved by applying that model to the naïve approach. Overall, we found that the final Off-Limits concept provides significant performance benefits over onscreen and touch pointing conditions.

AB - The size of information spaces often exceeds the limits of even the largest displays. This makes navigating such spaces through on-screen interactions demanding. However, if users imagine the information space extending in a plane beyond the display's boundaries, they might be able to use the space beyond the display for input. This paper investigates Off-Limits, an interaction concept extending the input space of a large display into the space beyond the screen through the use of mid-air pointing. We develop and evaluate the concept through three empirical studies in one-dimensional space: First, we explore benefits and limitations of off-screen pointing compared to touch interaction and mid-air on-screen pointing; next, we assess users' accuracy in off-screen pointing to model the distance-to-screen vs. accuracy trade-off; and finally, we show how Off-Limits is further improved by applying that model to the naïve approach. Overall, we found that the final Off-Limits concept provides significant performance benefits over onscreen and touch pointing conditions.

KW - freehand pointing, in-air pointing, mid-air pointing, off-screen pointing, spatial user interfaces

U2 - 10.1145/2858036.2858083

DO - 10.1145/2858036.2858083

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-1-4503-3362-7

SP - 5862

EP - 5873

BT - Proceedings - the 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 7 May 2016 through 12 May 2016

ER -