Expand in Context

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Expand in Context brings details into the immediate context of the selected object.

· The selected object is highlighted, and detailed information about the object is shown close to it.

· The details may appear in three different ways:

· they are opened as callouts on an empty space,

· they overlap other data, or

· they push other data away to make space.

Use Expand in Context, when the user only occasionally needs more information about the items he is working with. If the detailed information about one of the items is always needed, or the amount of additional information is quite large, use Overview beside Detail.

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Example 1a: Opened on an empty space [Zellweger99]

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Example 1b: Overlapping other data [Zellweger99]

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Example 1c: Push other data to make space [Zellweger99]

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Example 2: Excentric Labels [Fekete99]

The names are visible when the lens is moved upon the items.

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References

Fekete99	Fekete, J.-D., Plaisant, C. Excentric Labeling: Dynamic Neighborhood Labeling for Data Visualization ACM CHI’99 Conf. Proc., ACM , New York, pp. 512-519.
Zellweger99	Zellweger P. T., Chang B.-W., Mackinlay J., Fluid links for informed and incremental hypertext browsing. ACM CHI'99 Extended Abstracts, ACM , New York, 1999, pp. 7-8. http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/fluid/

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Updated 21.07.2003 / Sari A. Laakso, email salaakso@cs.helsinki.fi