Folded scrolling

Abstract

A system that displays content on a computer display. During operation, the system displays the content items within a display area on the computer display, wherein content items surrounding a current point of interest are displayed within a visible region of the display area. If the visible region has insufficient space to display some of the content items, the system selects a portion of the content items to be collapsed. Next, the system collapses the selected content items into one or more folds within the display area, wherein a fold is a compact representation of a contiguous group of adjacent content items and is located in place of the contiguous group of adjacent content items. For each fold, the system then displays a summary of the collapsed content items in the fold.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A illustrates a list with a fold in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B illustrates a list with a top fold and a bottom fold in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1C illustrates a list with a fold in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1D illustrates a list with a selected item in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a list with selected items in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a list with selected items and sub-folds in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2C illustrates a list with selected items and an expanded sub-fold in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A illustrates a list with a selected item in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B illustrates the process of selecting a new item from the list in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3C illustrates the list with two selected items in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3D illustrates the process of selecting a third item from the list in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3E illustrates the list with two selected items after deselecting one item in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3F illustrates the list with two selected items in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for displaying content on a computer display, comprising: displaying the content items within a display area on the computer display, wherein content items surrounding a current point of interest are displayed within a visible region of the display area;if the visible region has insufficient space to display some of the content items, selecting a portion of the content items to be collapsed;collapsing the selected content items into one or more folds within the display area, wherein a fold is a compact representation of a contiguous group of adjacent content items and is located in place of the contiguous group of adjacent content items; andfor each fold, displaying a summary of the collapsed content items in the fold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein collapsing the selected content items involves collapsing the selected content items into existing folds or into new folds within the visible region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if a user selects a new point-of-interest by selecting a given fold, the method further comprises expanding the collapsed content items in the given fold so that the new point-of-interest is displayed in a visible region of the display area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein while expanding the collapsed content items in the fold, if the visible region has insufficient space to display the collapsed content items in expanded form, the method further comprises collapsing other content items into folds to make room for the expanded content items.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein while expanding the collapsed content items, if the visible region has insufficient space to display all of the expanded content items in the fold, the method further comprises expanding only a portion of the collapsed content items in the fold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if a user selects a new point-of-interest within a fold and if there are a large number of collapsed content items within the fold, the method further comprises: partitioning the collapsed content items into sub-groups;displaying a summary of the collapsed content items within each sub-group in a sub-fold; andif the user selects a given sub-fold, expanding the collapsed content items in the given sub-fold so that the expanded content items are displayed in a visible region of the display area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein if all of the collapsed content items in a given fold are displayed in expanded form, the given fold disappears.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number of selected content items which are displayed restricts the number of displayed content items adjacent to the current point-of-interest to be below a minimum value, the method further comprises: collapsing some of the selected content items into folds within the visible region; andfor each fold, displaying a summary of the selected content items in the fold;thereby freeing up space within the visible region for the content items adjacent to the current point-of-interest.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the summary of the collapsed content items in the fold includes: a first content item in the fold;a quantifier for the number of collapsed content items in the fold; anda last content item in the fold.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for displaying content on a computer display, the method comprising: displaying the content items within a display area on the computer display, wherein content items surrounding a current point of interest are displayed within a visible region of the display area;if the visible region has insufficient space to display some of the content items, selecting a portion of the content items to be collapsed;collapsing the selected content items into one or more folds within the display area, wherein a fold is a compact representation of a contiguous group of adjacent content items and is located in place of the contiguous group of adjacent content items; andfor each fold, displaying a summary of the collapsed content items in the fold.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein collapsing the selected content items involves collapsing the selected content items into existing folds or into new folds within the visible region.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein if a user selects a new point-of-interest by selecting a given fold, the method further comprises expanding the collapsed content items in the given fold so that the new point-of-interest is displayed in a visible region of the display area.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein while expanding the collapsed content items in the fold, if the visible region has insufficient space to display the collapsed content items in expanded form, the method further comprises collapsing other content items into folds to make room for the expanded content items.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein while expanding the collapsed items, if the visible region has insufficient space to display all of the expanded content items in the fold, the method further comprises expanding only a portion of the collapsed content items in the fold.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein if a user selects a new point-of-interest within a fold and if there are a large number of collapsed content items within the fold, the method further comprises: partitioning the collapsed content items into sub-groups;displaying a summary of the collapsed content items within each sub-group in a sub-fold; andif the user selects a given sub-fold, expanding the collapsed content items in the given sub-fold so that the expanded content items are displayed in a visible region of the display area.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein if all of the collapsed content items in a given fold are displayed in expanded form, the given fold disappears.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein if the number of selected content items which are displayed restricts the number of displayed content items adjacent to the current point-of-interest to be below a minimum value, the method further comprises: collapsing some of the selected content items into folds; andfor each fold, displaying a summary of the selected content items in the fold;thereby freeing up space within the visible region for the content items adjacent to the current point-of-interest.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the summary of the collapsed content items in the fold includes: a first content item in the fold;a quantifier for the number of collapsed content items in the fold; anda last content item in the fold.

19. An apparatus that displays a content on a computer display, comprising: a displaying mechanism configured to display the content items within a display area on the computer display, wherein content items surrounding a current point of interest are displayed within a visible region of the display area;;a folding mechanism, wherein if the visible region has insufficient space to display some content items, the folding mechanism is configured to: select a portion of the content items to be collapsed;collapse the selected content items into one or more folds within the display area, wherein a fold is a compact representation of a contiguous group of adjacent content items and is located in place of the contiguous group of adjacent content items; andfor each fold, to display a summary of the collapsed content items in the fold.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein while collapsing the selected content items, the folding mechanism is configured to collapse the selected content items into existing folds or into new folds within the visible region.