Hybrid user interfaces
Steven Feiner, Ari Shamash · 1991
While virtual worlds offer a compelling alternative to conventional interfaces, the technologies these systems currently use do not provide sufficient resolution and accuracy to support detailed work such as text editing.We describe a pragmatic approach to interface design that provides users with a large virtual world in which such high-resolution work can be performed.Our approach is based on combining heterogeneous display and interaction device technologies to produce a hybrid user interface.Display and interaction technologies that have relatively low resolution, but which cover a wide (visual and interactive) field are used to form an information surround.Display and interaction technologiesthat have relatively high resolution over a limited visual and interaction range are used to present concentrated information in one or more selected portions of the surround. These highresolution fields are embedded within the low-resolution surround by choosing and coordinating complementarydevices that permit the user to see and interact with both simultaneously.This allows each embedded high-resolution interface to serve as a "sweet spot" within which intonation may be preferentially processed,We have developed a preliminary implementation, described in this paper, that uses a Reflection Technology Private Eye display and a Polhemus sensor to provide the secondary lowresohttion surround, and a flat-panel display and mouse to provide the primary high-resolution interface.