Navigation by zooming in boxes: preliminary evaluation

ABSTRACT

Our intent is to validate the adoption of an enclosure-based visualization technique of hierarchical structures for the presentation of web sites, according to a paradigm that (1) abandons the concept of web page collection and (2) replaces the link-traversal based navigation with a zoom-based navigation. In particular we re-visit the box-in-box technique (originally introduced to visualize objects in a knowledge base), based on recursive containment among labeled boxes, where panning and zooming operations allow to move the visibility window over the structure. The paper presents the main features of "boxed" web sites, sketches system characteristics and architecture, and discusses results of a preliminary evaluation study based on the comparison between a traditional version and a boxed version of the same site.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Evaluation/methodology

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI); Interaction styles (e.g., commands, menus, forms, direct manipulation)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia
          Subjects: User issues; Navigation