Chapter 10: User Interfaces and Visualization
Contents
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Modern Information Retrieval Chapter 10: User Interfaces and Visualization |
Contents |
interface design!InfoGrid layout InfoGrid layout
The InfoGrid system [#!rao92!#] is a typical example of a monolithic
layout for an information access interface. The layout assumes a
large display is available and is divided into a left-hand and
right-hand side (see Figure ![[*]](cross_ref_motif.gif)
). The left-hand
side is further subdivided into an area at the top that contains
structured entry forms for specifying the properties of a query, a
column of iconic controls lining the left side, and an area for
retaining documents of interest along the bottom. The main central
area is used for the viewing of retrieval results, either as thumbnail
representations of the original documents, or derived organizations of
the documents, such as Scatter/Gather-style cluster results. Users
can select documents from this area and store them in the holding area
below or view them in the right-hand side. Most of the right-hand side of
the display is used for viewing selected documents, with the upper
portion showing metadata associated with the selected document. The
area below the document display is intended to show a graphical
history of earlier interactions.
Designers must make decisions about which kinds of information to show in the primary view(s). If InfoGrid were used on a smaller display, either the document viewing area or the retrieval results viewing area would probably have to be shown via a pop-up overlapping window; otherwise the user would have to toggle between the two views. If the system were to suggest terms for relevance feedback, one of the existing views would have to be supplanted with this information or a pop-up window would have to be used to display the candidate terms. The system does not provide detailed information for source selection, although this could be achieved in a very simple way with a pop-up menu of choices from the control panel.