Specific use cases in virtual reality (VR) require users to read long texts on their headsets. We use VR to support researchers in the humanities, which includes the display of long text descriptions in VR. However, research on suitable user interface (UI) patterns for displaying and interacting with long texts in VR is scarce. To address this gap, we designed four text panel variants and conducted a within-participants study (N=24) to evaluate user experience (UX) and reading performance. Our findings suggest that there are no significant differences between conditions regarding reading performance. Yet, there are significant effects of conditions on some aspects of UX. Our work offers initial insights and future directions for research on the design of suitable UI patterns and the UX for reading long texts in VR.

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The research for this paper was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2176 'Understanding Written Artefacts: Material, Interaction and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures', project no. 390893796. The research was conducted within the scope of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at Universität Hamburg.