The World-Wide Web is the largest and fastest changing hypertext information system in the world. As a result, users often become ‘lost’ while casually browsing or searching for information, and are unable to take full advantage of its power. This paper describes three ways in which users can be supported in their navigation through the web. Firstly, visualisation techniques provide the user with insights into the structure and organisation of the space being explored, and give indications of relevance and content, helping the user to develop more effective search strategies. Our prototype web visualisation system based on these techniques is discussed and some promising initial results are presented. Secondly, the integration of support for collaborative exploration of the web is a natural development of the metaphor presented by the visualisation, and some examples of this approach are examined. We then finally show how the system could be extended to support software agents, and consider the drawbacks and further improvements that this would bring.
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