A review of overview+detail, zooming, and focus+context interfaces
- 15 January 2009
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM Computing Surveys
- Vol. 41 (1), 1-31
- https://doi.org/10.1145/1456650.1456652
Abstract
There are many interface schemes that allow users to work at, and move between, focused and contextual views of a dataset. We review and categorize these schemes according to the interface mechanisms used to separate and blend views. The four approaches are overview+detail, which uses a spatial separation between focused and contextual views; zooming, which uses a temporal separation; focus+context, which minimizes the seam between views by displaying the focus within the context; and cue-based techniques which selectively highlight or suppress items within the information space. Critical features of these categories, and empirical evidence of their success, are discussed. The aim is to provide a succinct summary of the state-of-the-art, to illuminate both successful and unsuccessful interface strategies, and to identify potentially fruitful areas for further work.Keywords
Funding Information
- Royal Society of New Zealand (07-UOC-013)
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