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Menus & Interface Elements
20. Menu Guidelines (Adapted from [20])
20.1. Position menu items close to the user's hand to speed up selection.
20.2. Design vertical menus above and in front of the hand for better selection.
20.3. Use vertical layouts instead of horizontal ones for easier operation.
20.4. Consider the position and proximity of both hands to avoid interference during selection.
21. Menu Placement Best Practices (Adapted from [21])
21.1. Preferences for placing application icons on different body areas, social media icons were mainly on the forearm for quick access, while utility and productivity icons were positioned between the chest and abdomen for better visibility during tasks. Designers could offer setup recommendations based on these trends.
21.2. Including customizable options for on-body menu configurations like perspective toggles can better address user-specific needs in VR on-body menu design.
22. Hand-adaptive UI Best Practices (Adapted from [22])
22.1. Place interactive objects at lower heights. Hand movements in a downward direction is less fatiguing and more accurate compared to raising the hand.
22.2. It is recommended that targets be positioned according to the order in which they are selected, with a general guideline to place latter targets lower than those selected earlier.
22.3. Utilize computer vision methods to detect the user's hand and design a UI layout that adapts accordingly.
22.4. Leverage user's spatial memory and natural sematic associations between objects and their position. For example, place a light switch high and a trash bin low.
22.5. Consider multiple factors when designing UI layout, including the sense of presence and user immersion, visual perception effects, the efficiency and accuracy of free hand interaction, user fatigue, hand operation accuracy and comfort at various positions, and the user's handedness characteristics.
23. Menu Placement and Selection Best Practices (Adapted from [23])
23.1. Arm - Use an arm-mounted menu with any shape and eye-gaze selection for a natural, low-effort interaction, but limit its duration to avoid arm fatigue.
23.2. Waist - Display system messages near waist-level menus and avoid prolonged use; a linear menu with ray-casting is preferred.
23.3. Hand - A radial-shaped hand menu paired with ray-casting is recommended.
23.4. In the Virtual World - Employ spatial menus in the virtual environment using ray-casting with any shape.
24. Menu Selection Design Recommendations (Adapted from [24])
Menu characteristic recommendations based on design priority
| Design Priority | Recommended Menu Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Performance | |
| Selection time | Marking or Direct techniques; fewer items; no hierarchy |
| Accuracy | Flatter menu layouts (linear or grid) |
| Subjective usability | Raycast technique; flatter menu layouts (linear or grid); fewer items |
| Minimal movement | Raycast technique; no hierarchy; unimanual techniques |
| Functionality | |
| Capacity | Direct technique; flatter menu layouts (linear or grid) |
| Hierarchical selection | Marking technique; fewer items |
25. Menu Interfaces and Selection Techniques Guidelines (Adapted from [25])
Hand Pointing with Button Press (Hand-BP), Head Pointing with Button Press (Head-BP), and Head Pointing with Dwell (Head-DW)
| Menu Type | Hand-BP | Head-BP | Head-DW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed menu | ✅ High efficiency ✅ Low error rate ✅ Low task load ✅ Fast-pace selection |
✅ Refinement ✅ Free of Heisenberg effect ❌ VR sickness |
✅ Hands-free ❌ VR sickness ❌ Midas Touch effect ❌ Limited number of menu items |
| Handheld menu | ❌ High task load ✅ High immersion |
❌ VR sickness ✅ High immersion |
❌ High error rate ❌ VR sickness ❌ Midas Touch effect ❌ Limited number of menu items ✅ High immersion |
- ✅ = Advantage/Positive characteristic
- ❌ = Disadvantage/Negative characteristic
26. Text Best Practices (Adapted from [26])
26.1. Angular Height - The preferred height was 32 + / − 11dmm. (dmm - distance-independent millimeter, where 1dmm = 1mm height at 1m viewing distance)
26.2. Vergence Distance to Text
The table outlines preliminary guidelines for designing information displays and reading platforms in VR using HMDs with fixed focus lenses like the Oculus (focal distance 1.3m), recommending that text be displayed at an angular size suitable for reading and positioned between 1 and 10 meters away, with 3 meters being the optimal distance.
| Distance Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Median closest comfortable distance | 0.89 m |
| Lowest quartile most comfortable distance | 1.3 m |
| Median most comfortable distance | 2.7 m |
| Upper quartile most comfortable distance | 8.6 m |
| Median farthest comfortable distance | 9.8 m |
26.3. View Box Parameters - The ideal text box size was found to be approximately 7.3 ± 1.7 lines in height and 40 ± 6.5 characters in width, with a preferred vertical placement of −1.0 ± 2.6 degrees from the horizontal.
26.4. Text Font and Background – A preference for white text on black background as opposed to black text on white background. The preferred text font was Arial compared to Times New Roman.
[20] T. Azai, M. Otsuki, F. Shibata, and A. Kimura, "Open Palm Menu: A Virtual Menu Placed in Front of the Palm" in Proceedings of the 9th Augmented Human International Conference, Seoul Republic of Korea: ACM, Feb. 2018, pp. 1–5. doi: 10.1145/3174910.3174929.
[21] X. Li et al., "Investigating Creation Perspectives and Icon Placement Preferences for On-Body Menus in Virtual Reality" Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., vol. 8, no. ISS, pp. 236–254, Oct. 2024, doi: 10.1145/3698136.
[22] X. Lou, X. A. Li, P. Hansen, and P. Du, "Hand-adaptive user interface: improved gestural interaction in virtual reality" Virtual Real., vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 367–382, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.1007/s10055-020-00461-7.
[23] I. Lediaeva and J. J. L. Jr, "Evaluation of Body-Referenced Graphical Menus in Virtual Environments" 2020, doi: 10.20380/GI2020.31.
[24] J. Wentzel, M. Lakier, J. Hartmann, F. Shazib, G. Casiez, and D. Vogel, "A Comparison of Virtual Reality Menu Archetypes: Raycasting, Direct Input, and Marking Menus" IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph., pp. 1–15, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2024.3420236.
[25] Y. Wang, Y. Hu, and Y. Chen, "An experimental investigation of menu selection for immersive virtual environments: fixed versus handheld menus" Virtual Real., vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 409–419, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.1007/s10055-020-00464-4.
[26] T. Dingler, K. Kunze, and B. Outram, "VR Reading UIs: Assessing Text Parameters for Reading in VR" in Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Montreal QC Canada: ACM, Apr. 2018, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1145/3170427.3188695.