Lightweight task/application performance using single versus multiple monitors: a comparative study

ABSTRACT

It is becoming increasingly common to see computers with two or even three monitors being used today. People seem to like having more display space available, and intuition tells us that the added space should be beneficial to work. Little research has been done to examine the effects and potential utility of multiple monitors for work on everyday tasks with common applications, however. We compared how people completed a trip planning task that involved different applications and included interjected interruptions when they worked on a computer with one monitor as compared to a computer with two monitors. Results showed that participants who used the computer with two monitors performed the task set faster and with less workload, and they also expressed a subjective preference for the multiple monitor computer.

REFERENCES

• 1: Robert Ball , Chris North, Effects of tiled high-resolution display on basic visualization and navigation tasks, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA [doi>10.1145/1056808.1056875]
• 2: Baudisch, P., Cutrell, E., Robbins, D., Czerwinski, M., Tandler, P. Bederson, B., and Zierlinger, A. Drag-and-Pop and Drag-and-Pick: Techniques for Accessing Remote Screen Content on Touch- and Pen-operated Systems. In Proc. Interact 2003, IOS Press (2003), 57--64.
• 3: Bell, B. and Feiner, S. View Management for Distributed Display Environments, In Workshop on Distributed Display Environments at CHI 2005, ACM Press (2005)
• 4: Hrvoje Benko , Steven Feiner, Multi-monitor mouse, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA [doi>10.1145/1056808.1056878]
• 5: Czerwinski, M., Smith, G., Regan, T., Meyers, B., Robertson, G., and Starkweather, G. Toward characterizing the productivity benefits of very large displays. In Proc. Interact 2003, IOS Press (2003), 9--16.
• 6: De Bruijn, D., De Mul, S., and Van Oostendorp, H. The influence of screen size and text layout on the study of text. Behaviour and Information Technology, 11, 2 (1992), 71--78.
• 7: Dillon, A., Richardson, J., and McKnight, C. The effects of display size and text splitting on reading lengthy text from screen. Behaviour and Information Technology, 9, 3 (1990), 215--227.
• 8: K. B. Gaylin, How are windows used? Some notes on creating an empirically-based windowing benchmark task, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.96-100, April 13-17, 1986, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 9: Jonathan Grudin, Partitioning digital worlds: focal and peripheral awareness in multiple monitor use, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.458-465, March 2001, Seattle, Washington, United States [doi>10.1145/365024.365312]
• 10: Hart, S. G., and Staveland, L. E. Development of a multidimensional workload rating scale: Results of empirical and theoretical research. In P. A. Hancock & N. Meshkati (Eds.). Human mental workload. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988, 139--183.
• 11: Dugald Ralph Hutchings , Greg Smith , Brian Meyers , Mary Czerwinski , George Robertson, Display space usage and window management operation comparisons between single monitor and multiple monitor users, Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces, May 25-28, 2004, Gallipoli, Italy [doi>10.1145/989863.989867]
• 12: Dugald Ralph Hutchings , John Stasko, mudibo: multiple dialog boxes for multiple monitors, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA [doi>10.1145/1056808.1056944]
• 13: Dugald Ralph Hutchings , John Stasko, Revisiting display space management: understanding current practice to inform next-generation design, Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2004, p.127-134, May 17-19, 2004, London, Ontario, Canada
• 14: St. John, M., Harris, W., & Osga, G. A. (1997). Designing for multitasking environments: Multiple monitors versus multiple windows. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. pp. 1313--1317.
• 15: David Kingery , Richard Furuta, Skimming electronic newspaper headlines: a study of typeface, point sizes, screen resolution, and monitor size, Information Processing and Management: an International Journal, v.33 n.5, p.685-696, Sept. 1997 [doi>10.1016/S0306-4573(97)00025-3]
• 16: Emilee Patrick , Dennis Cosgrove , Aleksandra Slavkovic , Jennifer A. Rode , Thom Verratti , Greg Chiselko, Using a large projection screen as an alternative to head-mounted displays for virtual environments, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.478-485, April 01-06, 2000, The Hague, The Netherlands [doi>10.1145/332040.332479]
• 17: Simmons, T. What's the optimum computer display size? Ergonomics in Design Fall (2001), 19--25.
• 18: Desney S. Tan , Darren Gergle , Peter Scupelli , Randy Pausch, With similar visual angles, larger displays improve spatial performance, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 05-10, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA [doi>10.1145/642611.642650]
• 19: Desney S. Tan , Darren Gergle , Peter G. Scupelli , Randy Pausch, Physically large displays improve path integration in 3D virtual navigation tasks, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.439-446, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985692.985748]
• 20: Tan, D. S. and Czerwinski, M. Effects of visual separation and physical continuities when distributing information across multiple displays. In Proc. INTERACT 2003, IOS Press (2003), 252--265.

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: Evaluation/methodology

Keywords:
evaluation, large display, multiple monitors, window management