A Comparison of Zoomable User Interfaces and Folders for Grouping Visual Objects

Abstract : Making sense of information on computers is notoriously difficult because of limited size displays. Two interface techniques used to cope with these limitations are zooming and overview+detail. To evaluate these techniques, we ran a user study comparing a Zoomable User Interface (ZUI) and a folder-based overview+detail interface. The task used in the study required subjects to organize shapes into groups based on common visual properties. The study results showed 30% faster completion times with the ZUI than with folders. The ZUI's advantage most likely arose from its support for fast visual comparisons. Ultimately, we expect that these results can be extended to a range of problem solving tasks involving a variety of visual objects.

[1]  Kerstin Severinson Eklundh.  Problems in achieving a global perspective of the text in computer-based writing , 1992 .

[2]  Catherine Plaisant,et al.  Navigation patterns and usability of zoomable user interfaces with and without an overview , 2002, TCHI.

[3]  Patrick Baudisch,et al.  Automatic text reduction for changing size constraints , 2002, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[4]  Mike Sharples,et al.  An Account of Writing as Creative Design , 1996 .

[5]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Issues for supporting notetaking and note using in the computer environment , 1990 .

[6]  Catherine C. Marshall,et al.  Two years before the mist: experiences with Aquanet , 1993, ECHT '92.

[7]  Frank M. Shipman,et al.  The visual knowledge builder: a second generation spatial hypertext , 2001, HYPERTEXT '01.

[8]  Benjamin B. Bederson,et al.  Automatic thumbnail cropping and its effectiveness , 2003, UIST '03.

[9]  Frank M. Shipman,et al.  Spatial hypertext and the practice of information triage , 1997, HYPERTEXT '97.

[10]  Benjamin B. Bederson,et al.  Toolkit design for interactive structured graphics , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[11]  Enjámin,et al.  Pad ++ : A Zoomable Graphical Sketchpad For Exploring Alternate Interface Physics , 1996 .

[12]  Austin Henderson,et al.  Rooms: the use of multiple virtual workspaces to reduce space contention in a window-based graphical user interface , 1986, TOGS.

[13]  Frank M. Shipman,et al.  Formality Considered Harmful: Experiences, Emerging Themes, and Directions on the Use of Formal Representations in Interactive Systems , 1999, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[14]  Frank M. Shipman,et al.  Manipulating structured information in a visual workspace , 2002, UIST '02.

[15]  A. M. Triesman,et al.  Preattentive processing in vision , 1985 .

[16]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  Using thumbnails to search the Web , 2001, CHI.

[17]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The Adaptive Nature of Human Categorization. , 1991 .

[18]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Visual Information Seeking: Tight Coupling of Dynamic Query Filters with Starfield Displays , 1994 .

[19]  Mary Czerwinski,et al.  Data mountain: using spatial memory for document management , 1998, UIST '98.

[20]  Colin Ware,et al.  Zooming, multiple windows, and visual working memory , 2002, AVI '02.