An increasing number of users are adopting large, multi-monitor displays. The resulting setups cover such a broad viewing angle that users can no longer simultaneously perceive all parts of the screen. Changes outside the user's visual field often go unnoticed. As a result, users sometimes have trouble locating the active window, for example after switching focus. This paper surveys graphical cues designed to direct visual attention and adapts them to window switching. Visual cues include five types of frames and mask around the target window and four trails leading to the window. We report the results of two user studies. The first evaluates each cue in isolation. The second evaluates hybrid techniques created by combining the most successful candidates from the first study. The best cues were visually sparse --- combinations of curved frames which use color to pop-out and tapered trails with predictable origin.

1. EVALUATING VISUAL CUES FOR WINDOW SWITCHING ON LARGE SCREENS Raphael Hoffmann (University of Washington) Patrick Baudisch (Microsoft Research) Daniel S. Weld (University of Washington)

2. WHICH IS THE ACTIVE WINDOW?

3. ON LARGE SCREENS CHANGES MAY GO UNNOTICED

4. NOTICING CHANGE Flashing of window moving to foreground  Flashing of window frame  Visual Search 

5. A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE CUE?

7. DESIGN GOALS 2 Minimize impact on other screen content 3 Use sparse visual effects to minimize fatigue/annoyance 1 Minimize visual search time; Do not slow down users who already know where the target is

8. VISUAL CUES frames trails

9. BLINKINGFRAME

10. REDFRAME

11. BUBBLEFRAME

12. SHADOWFRAME

13. MASK

14. CENTERBEAM

15. CENTERSPLASH

16. WINDOWSPLASH

17. WINDOWBEAM

19. PERCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS high acuity vision peripheral vision

20. PERCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS

22. COLOR Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

23. MOTION Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

24. SHAPE Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

25. SHADING + SHADOWS Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

26. NOISY BACKGROUND

27. COLOR VS. SHAPE Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

28. COLOR VS. SHAPE Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980) >

29. HETEROGENOUS DISTRACTORS Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

30. HOMOGENOUS DISTRACTORS Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, Gelade; CP 1980)

31. WHAT STANDS OUT IN OUR UI?

32. POPOUT PRISM Suh, Woodruff, Rosenholtz, Glass; CHI 2002

33. HALO Baudisch, Rosenholtz; CHI 2003 +

34. SPOTLIGHT Khan, Matejka, Fitzmaurice, Kurtenbach; CHI 2005 +

35. PHOSPHOR Baudisch, Tan, Collomb, Robbins, Hinckley, Agrawala, Zhao, Ramos; UIST 2006 DRAG-AND-POP Baudisch, Cutrell, Robbins, Czerwinski, Tandler, Bederson, Zierlinger; Interact 2003

40. SEARCH SPACE ( ) 2 = 160 combinations x x x x x 2 2 2 2 4+1 control

41. SEARCH SPACE ( ) 1 = 10 (combinations) + + + + + 1 1 1 1 4+1 STUDY 1

42. SEARCH SPACE ( ) 1 + + + + + 1 1 1 1 4+1

43. SEARCH SPACE 1 = 6 combinations + 1 STUDY 2 1 1 1 1 + + + +

44. STUDY 1: CUES IN ISOLATION

50. RESULTS – OVERVIEW Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

51. RESULTS – OVERVIEW Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

52. FRAMES – TASK TIME BubbleFrame ShadowFrame Control BlinkingFrame RedFrame 0 1 2 3 sec dominant dominant

53. FRAMES – ANNOYANCE BubbleFrame ShadowFrame Control BlinkingFrame RedFrame 0 2 4 6 0 1 2 3 dominant dominant dominant dominant

54. PARTICIPANT’S FAVORITE FRAME Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

55. RESULTS – OVERVIEW Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

56. MASK – TASK TIME sec Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask

57. MASK – POPUP MISSES 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

58. MASK – ANNOYANCE 0 1 2 3 4 5 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

59. RESULTS – OVERVIEW Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

60. TRAILS – TASK TIME CenterSplash WindowSplash Control CenterBeam WindowBeam 0 1 2 3 asymm. asymm.

61. PARTICIPANT’S FAVORITE TRAIL Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

62. RESULTS – OVERVIEW Task Time Annoyance Popup Misses Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Task Time (seconds ± SEM) 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control Popup Detection Error (N ± SEM) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Annoyance (rating ± SEM) Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash Dark- Mask Control

63. TRAILS/FRAMES – TASK TIME targets close Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash

64. TRAILS/FRAMES – TASK TIME targets far Control 0 1 2 3 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash

65. TRAILS/FRAMES – POPUP MISS. Control 8 10 12 Blinking- Frame Bubble- Frame Red- Frame Shadow- Frame Center- Beam Center- Splash Window- Beam Window- Splash

67. STUDY 2: CUE COMBINATIONS synergy or interference?

68. MASK + BUBBLE

69. CENTERSPLASH + REDFRAME

70. CS + RED + BUBBLE

71. CS + RED + BUBBLE + SHADOW

72. MASK + FRAMES – TASK TIME Task Time 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 CenterSplash CenterSplash + RedFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame + ShadowFrame sec

73. MASK + BUBBLE Task Time Annoyance sec Control CenterSplash 0 1 2 3 CenterSplash + RedFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame + ShadowFrame DarkMask + BubbleFrame 0 2 4 6 CenterSplash + RedFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame CenterSplash + RedFrame + BubbleFrame + ShadowFrame DarkMask + BubbleFrame CenterSplash Control

74. PARTICIPANTS’ FAVORITE CUE

77. THANK YOU! Raphael Hoffmann Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington [email_address] Patrick Baudisch Microsoft Research Redmond, Washington [email_address] Daniel S. Weld Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington [email_address] This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant IIS-0307906, by the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-06-1-0147, SRI International under CALO grant 03-000225 and the Washington Research Foundation / TJ Cable Professorship.

78. TRAILS – POPUP MISSES CenterSplash WindowSplash Control CenterBeam WindowBeam 8 10 12 asymm. asymm.