Spotlight: directing users' attention on large displays

ABSTRACT

We describe a new interaction technique, called a spotlight, for directing the visual attention of an audience when viewing data or presentations on large wall-sized displays. A spotlight is simply a region of the display where the contents are displayed normally while the remainder of the display is somewhat darkened. In this paper we define the behavior of spotlights, show unique affordances of the technique, and discuss design characteristics. We also report on experiments that show the benefit of using the spotlight a large display and standard desktop configuration. Our results suggest that the spotlight is preferred over the standard cursor and outperforms it by a factor of 3.4 on a wall-sized display.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Windowing systems

Keywords:
attention, field of view, large displays, user study