browsing

Existing augmentations of web pages are mostly small cosmetic changes (e.g., removing ads) and minor addition of third-party content (e.g., product prices from competing sites). None leverages the structured data presented in web pages. This paper describes Sifter, a web browser extension that can augment a well-structured web site with advanced filtering and sorting functionality. These added features work inside the site's own pages, preserving the site's presentational style and the user's context. Sifter contains an algorithm that scrapes structured data out of well-structured web pages while usually requiring no user intervention. We tested Sifter on real web sites and real users and found that people could use Sifter to perform sophisticated queries and high-level analyses on sizable data collections on the Web. We propose that web sites can be similarly augmented with other sophisticated data-centric functionality, giving users new benefits over the existing Web.

We introduce a set of techniques for haptically manipulating digital media such as video, audio, voicemail and computer graphics, utilizing virtual mediating dynamic models based on intuitive physical metaphors. For example, a video sequence can be modeled by linking its motion to a heavy spinning virtual wheel: the user browses by grasping a physical force-feedback knob and engaging the virtual wheel through a simulated clutch to spin or brake it, while feeling the passage of individual frames. These systems were implemented on a collection of single axis actuated displays (knobs and sliders), equipped with orthogonal force sensing to enhance their expressive potential. We demonstrate how continuous interaction through a haptically actuated device rather than discrete button and key presses can produce simple yet powerful tools that leverage physical intuition.

In this paper we propose a new model for a class of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) interfaces [16] in the context of consumer video devices. The basic spatial layout "explodes" a sequence of image frames into a 3D trail in order to provide more context for a spatial/temporal presentation. As the user plays forward or back, the trail advances or recedes while the image in the foreground focus position is replaced. The design is able to incorporate a variety of methods for analyzing or highlighting images in the trail. Our hypotheses are that users can navigate more quickly and precisely to points of interest when compared to conventional consumer-based browsing, channel flipping, or fast-forwarding techniques. We report on an experiment testing our hypotheses in which we found that subjects were more accurate but not faster in browsing to a target of interest in recorded television content with a TV remote.

While it is generally accepted that new Internet terminals should leverage the installed base of Web content and services, the differences between desktop computers and very small devices makes this challenging. Indeed, the browser interaction model has evolved on desktop computers having a unique combination of user interface (large display, keyboard, pointing device), hardware, and networking capabilities. In contrast, Internet enabled cell phones, typically with 3-10 lines of text, sacrifice usability as Web terminals in favor of portability and other functions. Based on our earlier experiences building and using a Web browser for small devices we propose a new UI that splits apart the integrated activities of link following and reading into separate modes: navigating to; and acting on web content. This interaction technique for very small devices is both simpler for navigating and allows users to do more than just read. The M-Links system incorporates modal browsing interaction and addresses a number of associated problems. We have built our system with an emphasis on simplicity and user extensibility and describe the design, implementation and evolution of the user interface.

The proliferation of wireless handheld devices is placing the World Wide Web in the palms of users, but this convenience comes at a high interactive cost. The Web that came of age on the desktop is ill-suited for use on the small displays of handhelds. Today, handheld browsing often feels like browsing on a PC with a shrunken desktop. Overreliance on scrolling is a big problem in current handheld browsing. Users confined to viewing a small portion of each page often lack a sense of the overall context --- they may feel lost in a large page and be forced to remember the locations of items as those items scroll out of view. In this paper, we present a synthesis of interaction techniques to address these problems. We implemented these techniques in a prototype, WebThumb, that can browse the live Web.

Overview visualizations for small-screen web browsers were designed to provide users with visual context and to allow them to rapidly zoom in on tiles of relevant content. Given that content in the overview is reduced, however, users are often unable to tell which tiles hold the relevant material, which can force them to adopt a time-consuming hunt-and-peck strategy. Collapse-to-zoom addresses this issue by offering an alternative exploration strategy. In addition to allowing users to zoom into relevant areas, collapse-to-zoom allows users to collapse areas deemed irrelevant, such as columns containing menus, archive material, or advertising. Collapsing content causes all remaining content to expand in size causing it to reveal more detail, which increases the user's chance of identifying relevant content. Collapse-to-zoom navigation is based on a hybrid between a marquee selection tool and a marking menu, called marquee menu. It offers four commands for collapsing content areas at different granularities and to switch to a full-size reading view of what is left of the page.

Cellular phones are widely used to access the WWW. However, most available Web pages are designed for desktop PCs. Cellular phones only have small screens and poor interfaces, and thus, it is inconvenient to browse such large sized pages. In addition, cellular phone users browse Web pages in various situations, so that appropriate presentation styles for Web pages depend on users' situations. In this paper, we propose a novel Web browsing system for cellular phones that allocates various functions for Web browsing on each numerical key of a cellular phone. Users can browse Web pages comfortably, selecting appropriate functions according to their situations by pushing a single button.