Efficient web browsing on small screens

ABSTRACT

A global increase in PDA and cell phone ownership and a rise in the use of wireless services have caused mobile browsing to become an important means of Internet access. However, the small screen of such mobile devices limits the usability of information browsing and searching. This paper presents a novel method that automatically adapts a desktop presentation to a mobile presentation, proceeding in two steps: detecting boundaries between different information blocks and then representing the information to fit in small screens. Distinct from other approaches, our approach analyzes both the DOM structure and the visual layout to divide the original Web page into several subpages, each of which includes closely related content and is suitable for display on the small screen. Furthermore, a table of contents is automatically generated to facilitate the navigation between different subpages. An evaluation of a prototype of our approach shows that the browsing usability is significantly improved.

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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)

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Performance

Keywords:
adaptive interface for small screens, mobile web browser