Text-Editing Performance with Partial-Line, Partial-Page, and Full-Page Displays

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine how the amount and format of text shown on text editor displays affect text-editing performance. In the first experiment, 28 typists used both a partial-line display and a partial-page display. In the second experiment, 20 typists used both a partial-page and a full-page display. The displays in both experiments were connected to the same text-editing system. In each experiment, typists completed 384 editing tasks using each display. Each editing task required typists to make a revision, which was marked on a printed copy of a document. The results showed that text-editing performance was largely unaffected by the amount of text displayed; where differences occurred, they generally favored the displays showing more text.