A review of overview+detail, zooming, and focus+context interfaces

  • Authors:

  • Andy Cockburn;Amy Karlson;Benjamin B. Bederson

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand;University of Maryland, College Park, MD;University of Maryland, College Park, MD

  • Venue:
  • ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
  • Year:
  • 2009

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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.