An exploration of users' pointing and navigation performance on large curved displays

Large displays generally take two primary forms - flat and curved - and are widely used for collaboration, data visualization, and entertainment. While interaction on large "flat" displays has been extensively studied, interaction on large "curved" displays remains underexplored. Moreover, findings from studies on flat displays may not generalize to curved displays, as curved displays introduce additional factors - such as the degree of display curvature and the user's position relative to the display - that can significantly affect user performance. To explore factors specific to large curved displays and their impact on user performance, this thesis conducts a four-phase investigation of interaction on large curved displays. As building and reconfiguring physical curved displays with varying curvatures and layouts is costly and impractical, we start our exploration with Phase 1, which examines how user performance differs between a physical large curved display and a matched virtual large curved display. Our results show that virtual curved displays can serve as a valid experimental alternative to physical ones. Building on these findings, Phase 2 uses virtual curved displays to systematically vary display curvature and quantify its effects on pointing performance. We observe that users can point at targets faster on less curved displays than on more curved displays. In Phase 3, we observe that user performance varies depending on their location relative to the display. To reduce performance differences across user locations on the screen, we further design a set of cursor enhancement techniques and evaluate their effectiveness in improving pointing performance across different positions. During the first three phases, we observe that a substantial portion of content (e.g., 180 degrees) can fall outside users' view (i.e., off-screen content) on large curved displays. In Phase 4, we therefore explore effective techniques for accessing off-screen content on large curved displays. Across all phases, our results provide empirical evidence and design guidance for developing more efficient and user-friendly pointing and navigation techniques for large curved displays.