Effects of input mode and screen layout on the user interface design of a smart home central control system

• Published in: Displays Vol. 87; p. 102914
• Main Authors: Chen, Chien-Hsiung, Lu, Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2025
• Subjects: Input mode; Interaction design; Screen layout; Smart home central control system; User experience; User experience; Smart home central control system; Input mode; Screen layout; Interaction design
• ISSN: 0141-9382
• DOI: 10.1016/j.displa.2024.102914

•A 2 x 3between-subjects experimental design was employed in this study.•Input mode and Screen layout have significant interaction effects on three task performances.•Freeform layout design may lead to increased operational load.•Different scenarios of numeric range input require different numeric input modes. The interaction design features of the existing smart home central control system have become richer compared to the previous traditional home appliance user interfaces. The visual search and user experience pertinent to interacting with a good user interface of a smart home central control system are especially important. A total of 60 participants were recruited by purposive sampling method. This study adopted a 2 x 3 between-subjects experiment to investigate whether different “input modes” (i.e., slider and button) and different “screen layouts” (i.e., grid layout, list layout, and freeform layout) have an impact on users’ task performance and their subjective evaluations. The results of the study were as follows: (1) Sliders are more efficient than buttons. Compared to the list layout, the grid layout is more efficient; (2) In terms of subjective evaluations, the participants found that the freeform layout was the most difficult to operate as it might increase the user’s workload; (3) Sliders outperformed buttons when inputting a wide range of values, while buttons were more suitable for inputting precise values; (4) Distracted attention made users feel anxious when interacting with the user interface, which could be alleviated by appropriate visual feedback. The results of this study can provide important design suggestions for the user interface design of smart home central control systems and may also enhance users’ task efficiency and improve their user experience.