Comparing an Iconic Interface to a Text-based and Virtual Paths Interface for Effective Interaction in an Interactive Workspace

ARIS is an iconic interface that enables users to relocate applications and redirect input in an interactive workspace. We compared the use of ARIS to a text-based and virtual paths (VP) interface for relocating applications and redirecting input. Results showed that the iconic interface was more effective than the text-based interface and almost as effective as the VP interface. Since the use of text-based interfaces is common, the use of an iconic interface enables relocation and redirection tasks to be performed more effectively than today. Though it imposes a small additional cost, an iconic interface also supports features useful for interactive spaces that a VP interface does not.