Visual recognition of windows: effects of size variation and presentation styles

One of the problems of windowing systems today is that the desktop quickly becomes cluttered with the number of windows in use. This can hinder the user during task performance. Users become overwhelmed and disorientated by the number of windows. They quickly lose track of documents and spend much of their time locating the document by manipulating the windowing environment rather than working on the task at hand. We propose a Vanishing Windows approach that will reduce the window manipulation required by the user and aid the user in search activities. This technique gradually reduces the screen real estate requirements for an inactive window. The reduction of inactive window size progressively increases the overall visibility of windows on the desktop (less overlap). However, the visibility of individual window content will also reduce progressively. The paper develops techniques for maximising the visual cues available for individual windows, even at small screen sizes. These techniques are empirically tested.