One way we have resolved this in the past is to provide a page-level "jump to" box, into which you type the word you're looking for, JavaScript finds the name in a behind-the-scenes keyword list and takes you to what you want immediately. We have a portal full of hundreds of such tree-structures in the form of flyout menus - we made the target areas big enough, but no amount of taxonomy tweaking fits everyone's perspective. Sometimes, you just have to give them a targeted search. As long as people can easily distinguish it from your regular search it should work (we put the words "Jump to" in front of the box and folks seem to use it ok).
Another point to note: what's the percentage of people using the taxonomy vs your search? and related: is your search an effective alternative to the taxonomy, for those who prefer to search? I guess I'm asking if people are struggling with the taxonomy because they can't search for what they want... Good luck =] - Bryan http://www.bryanminihan.com ---- 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 > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > List Guidelines ............ http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help > Unsubscribe ................ http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe > Questions .................. [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org -- ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Guidelines ............ http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help Unsubscribe ................ http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe Questions .................. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org
