Map, diagram, and web page navigation on mobile devices

Abstract

This paper presents a study comparing two Zoomable User Interfaces with Overviews (ZUIOs) against a classic Zoomable User Interface (ZUI) in the context of user navigation of large information spaces on mobile devices. The study aims at exploring (i) if an overview is worth the space it uses as an orientation tool during navigation of an information space and (ii) if part of the lost space can be recovered by switching to a wireframe visualization of the overview and dropping semantic information in it. The study takes into consideration search tasks on three types of information space, namely maps, diagrams, and web pages, that widely differ in structural complexity. Results suggest that overviews bring enough benefit to justify the used space if (i) they highlight relevant semantic information that users can exploit during search and (ii) the structure of the considered information space does not provide appropriate orientation cues.