Prototype Designs

The design process started with a focus on the WIM metaphor presented in Chapter 3. However, we quickly found that accommodating the revisions discussed in Section 4 of Chapter 3 along with the domain requirements presented in Chapter 4, Section 4 would create an overly complex and awkward design. For example, it was not clear how to build in the negotiated model for establishing replications of shared applications. As such, we began our design process by taking a slight step back, exploring different design and functionality features that, while not specifically WIM designs, did contain many core elements of the WIM metaphor.

A portal to a remote screen. A user can drag application windows onto these portals to relocate and replicate them to remote screens. Double clicking on a portal allows a user to redirect his local keyboard and mouse actions to the remote screen.

Figure 5.1: A scan of a paper prototype to support quick action mode. The prototype remote screen portals that appear on the periphery of a user’s screen. The location of the portals on the periphery of the screen is relative to the location of the remote screen within the physical workspace. For example the portal in the top left is located forward and to the left relative to the user in the physical workspace.

One design, called screen portals (see Figure 5.1), was designed to provide users persistent access to shared displays, enabling users to quickly replicate application’s output on these displays to facilitate quick sharing of information to peers.

To place content on a shared display using the screen portals, a user grabs the title bar of the application he desires to replicate and drag it to the edge of the screen. As the user drags the application, portals to available shared screens appear on the user’s local screen. The portals appear based upon how the user is physically situated within the workspace. For example, the portal on the left side of the user’s display corresponds to the display that is located to the left of the user within the physical workspace. Dragging and releasing an application window onto a portal initiates the replication action (creating a shadowed copy on the remote screen while still keeping the application window open on the local screen).

Performing a single click of the screen brings up a full portal view of the remote screen (Figure 5.2), allowing the users to select the application window, drag it out of the portal view and releasing it in his local desktop. The portal view can also be kept open to provide the user with an ongoing awareness of the information items being presented on the remote screens.

Single-clicking on a portal brings up a full portal view of the remote screen. In this mode, a user can see thumbnail representations of the application windows running on the remote device. Within the portal view, a user can rearrange windows or drag them to another portal to relocate the window to another remote screen.

Figure 5.2: A close-up view of the quick view mode prototype that is showing the portal view for the top left remote screen.

The screen portals also enable a user to redirect his local input to remote screen. By hovering his mouse cursor for short time near the edge of his screen, the portals will appear allowing the user to double click on a shared screen to redirect input to that screen. To return input to the local screen, the user can use the same interaction with the portals on the shared screen, or use a hot key sequence.

A second design, more closely models the world-in-miniature (WIM) metaphor discussed in Chapter 3, was developed to explore methods for controlling the availability of shared applications. As illustrated in Figure 5.3, applications are represented on the device in which they are currently being displayed. For example, the device on the right side of the table has an instance of Visual Studio running, as indicated by the Visual Studio icon. In addition to the application icon, two addition visual indicators are shown on each application; a user icon representing which user is the owner of the application, and a lock icon representing the current sharing mode the application is in. Applications that a user owns (i.e. the application was started on and relocated/replicated from the user’s local device) can be transitioned between show mode (other collaborators can only view the application) and share mode (all collaborators can interact with the application).

Like the previous prototype, an Internet Explorer window has been placed on the shared display. The owner and lock icons are shown on top of the application window’s representation, but they are not active as in the last prototype. To change the disclosure settings of an application window, the user first selects the desired window and then selects the appropriate disclosure setting the floating set of buttons on the top of the interface.

To change the sharing settings of an application window, the user first selects the desired window and then selects the appropriate sharing setting the floating set of buttons on the bottom of the interface.

Figure 5.3: A scan of the paper prototype that allows users to control how applications are shared and represented. The call-outs show the centralized controls for specifying sharing and representation preferences.

Within in this prototype, the lock icon of owned applications can be toggled; locked to represent show mode and unlocked to represent share mode.

In addition to the lock icon, a user can also adjust how applications in show mode are represented in other users’ interfaces. User can select from full disclosure (full thumbnail when zoomed), icon only disclosure (application detail limited its icon), generic disclosure (only an outline of the application is shown, with no icon to associate type of possible content), and invisible (application not represented to other users). A user can toggle between show and shared modes by first selecting the application they wish to change, and then pressing the lock or unlock button icons. A similar interaction is used to change an applications level of disclosure.

Both prototypes are designed with the assumption that applications would by default be set to the invisible level of disclosure. When a user transitions an application to a different level, the application’s sharing modality would be set to show mode. These defaults would allow users to balance being able to keep their fellow collaborators aware of their current activities, while also being able to protect their privacy for certain types of applications.

A third prototype explored the ability for users to manage and organize shared applications based upon the tasks or sub-tasks those applications were supporting. Similar to facilities provided by GroupBar [130] and Scalable Fabric [111], users are provided a task tool box that organizes shared applications by task (see Figure 5.4). Users drag an application’s representation onto a particular task to categorize the application to that specific task. This design has the particular advantage in that it could be kept open on the user’s screen independent of the icon map, allowing for quick awareness of what applications are being added to the workspace and how they are being assigned.