Tech Report HCIL-94-02

Plaisant, C., Carr, D., Shneiderman, B. (April 1994)
Image Browsers: Taxonomy, Guidelines, and Informal Specifications
IEEE Software, vol.12, 2 (March 1995) 21-32.
HCIL-94-02, CS-TR-3282, CAR-TR-712, ISR-TR-94-39

Image browsing is necessary in numerous applications. Designers have merely used two one-dimensional scroll bars or they have made ad hoc designs for a two-dimensional scroll bar. However, the complexity of two-dimensional browsing suggests that more careful analysis, design, and evaluation might lead to significant improvements. We present a task taxonomy for image browsing, suggest design features and guidelines, assess existing strategies, and introduce an informal specification technique to describe the browsers.