Human performance evaluation of user interfaces for spatially-constrained text portrayal and access

Abstract

To maximize visualization effectiveness, graphical data are commonly augmented with text to provide detailed information and define specific values. This text is often displayed in a pop-up dialog box pertaining to an object, permitting simultaneous display of the object and associated alphanumeric information. However, a human operator performance cost may be incurred when the resulting portrayal occludes critical information within the visualization. To address this issue, we developed and evaluated three alternative, spatially constrained, text portrayal techniques. These techniques and their associated access interface were designed to reduce occlusion while providing rapid access to desired alphanumeric data. Each technique was evaluated against the pop-up dialog using a dual-task human performance paradigm. Performance measures included accuracy, response time, display occlusion, and subjective feedback. The basis for the spatially-constrained text access technique design, their implementation affordances, and limitations are discussed. The alternative techniques and their user interface concepts resulted in mixed accuracy and response time performance compared to the pop-up dialog. Specific design features reduced data access time to one third of the time required to access the spatially-constrained text access techniques. Overall, equivalent performance was obtained among the variants while the potential for occlusion was reduced during use of the novel designs.