Effects of information layout,screen size,and field of view on user performance in information‐rich virtual environments

This paper describes our recent experimental evaluation of Information‐Rich Virtual Environment (IRVE) interfaces. To explore the depth cue/visibility tradeoff between annotation schemes, we design and evaluate two information layout techniques to support search and comparison tasks. The techniques provide different depth and association cues between objects and their labels: labels were displayed either in the virtual world relative to their referent (Object Space) or on an image plane workspace (Viewport Space). The Software Field of View (SFOV) was controlled to 60° or 100° of vertical angle and two groups were tested: those running on a single monitor and those on a tiled nine‐panel display. Users were timed, tracked for correctness, and gave ratings for both difficulty and satisfaction on each task. Significant advantages were found for the Viewport interface, and for high SFOV. The interactions between these variables suggest special design considerations to effectively support search and comparison performance across monitor configurations and projection distortions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.