WEST: a Web browser for small terminals

  • Authors:

  • Staffan Björk;Lars Erik Holmquist;Johan Redström;Ivan Bretan;Rolf Danielsson;Jussi Karlgren;Kristofer Franzén

  • Affiliations:

  • Viktoria Institute, Box 620, SE-405 30, Göteborg, Sweden;Viktoria Institute, Box 620, SE-405 30, Göteborg, Sweden;Viktoria Institute, Box 620, SE-405 30, Göteborg, Sweden;Telia Mobile AB, SE-131 86 Nacka Strand, Sweden;Telia Research AB, SE-123 86 Farsta, Sweden;Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Box 1263, SE-164 29 Kista, Sweden;Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Box 1263, SE-164 29 Kista, Sweden

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 12th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

We describe WEST, a WEb browser for Small Terminals, that aims to solve some of the problems associated with accessing web pages on hand-held devices. Through a novel combination of text reduction and focus+context visualization, users can access web pages from a very limited display environment, since the system will provide an overview of the contents of a web page even when it is too large to be displayed in its entirety. To make maximum use of the limited resources available on a typical hand-held terminal, much of the most demanding work is done by a proxy server, allowing the terminal to concentrate on the task of providing responsive user interaction. The system makes use of some interaction concepts reminiscent of those defined in the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), making it possible to utilize the techniques described here for WAP-compliant devices and services that may become available in the near future.