But - thata

will evans
user experience architect
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
617.281.1281


On Oct 5, 2007, at 7:17 PM, "Oleh Kovalchuke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  
wrote:

> It sounds like you have a categorization problem, which cannot be  
> solved by
> improving target acquisition.
> To go on with your pun: Fitts law does not fit here.
>
> Oleh
>
>
>
> On 10/5/07, Alan Wexelblat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> I've been trying to figure out how to use Fitt's Law properly to
>> increase the targetability of a dense tree structure, as displayed on
>> a browser page.
>>
>> The information in the hierarchy is three levels, call them Category,
>> Subcategory, and Items.
>>
>> There are about 5 Categories, each of which has 3-10 Subcategories  
>> and
>> each subcategory has 1-15 Items.
>>
>> Displaying these data in a conventional tree leads to a display that
>> is a grand pain to target on.  The left side is nice and large and
>> clear, but the right column of Items is dense and packed so that
>> targeting becomes quite slow.
>>
>> Ideally I'd replace the tree with something like a pie menu or other
>> progressive display, except that the users are infrequent visitors.
>> We cannot expect them to learn or remember the taxonomy.  The display
>> needs to support scanning.
>>
>> In addition, a significant fraction of the users know the NAME of the
>> thing they want, but again do not know or remember the categories.
>> Thus I want to support conventional "find" functionality (ctrl-F).
>>
>> My initial attempt involved using Javascript tricks to expand the  
>> size
>> of the Items group when the user's mouse got nearby, but that seems  
>> to
>> confuse people as their target appears to "jump" and may not be where
>> they're tracking to. Expanding the font itself (by bolding or  
>> changing
>> size) also has bad effects in that it can cause word wrap, meaning  
>> the
>> target is suddenly very far away from where the person is tracking.
>>
>> Can anyone suggest a way I can meet the two constraints (support
>> scanning; support find-ability by name) while improving the
>> time-to-target problem for people who are actually using the  
>> taxonomic
>> hierarchy?
>>
>> --
>> --Alan Wexelblat
>> ________________________________________________________________
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Oleh Kovalchuke
> Interaction Design is the Design of Time
> http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm
> ________________________________________________________________
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