Wedge

Validation level: 5. CHI, UIST, CSCW and TOCHI paper publication

Clutter-free visualization of off-screen locations is a technique that point users to objects located off-screen. It conveys directions and distance, yet avoids overlapp and clutter.

Publications
Copy Bibtex Gustafson, S.; Baudisch, P.; Gutwin, C. and Irani, P. Wedge: Clutter-free Visualization of Off-screen Locations. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 787-796, ACM, New York, NY, USA, CHI '08 , 2008.
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Storyboard of Functions

Allow users to infer the exact location of off-screen targets.

The design consists of three-line segments. The legs are the key element since they estimate where they intersect. This intersection point is the target.

These three degrees of freedom are designed to avoid overlap and to maximize the location accuracy.

An example where the three degrees of freedom avoid overlap and maximize accuracy.

Highlights:

All users preferred this technique over others previously used (Halo). Its efficiency and low-time responses show the benefits of this new visualization.

Limitations:

When the distance is too short, the visualization is less understandable in Wedge than in Halo.