SaTellite: a visualization and navigation tool for hypermedia

Abstract

SaTellite is a visualization and navigation tool for a hypermedia system. It is based on the concept of affinity between objects; that is, a relationship with an associated intensity. The user is presented with a two dimensional map that provides a view of the hypermedia environment where objects lying close together have a greater affinity than those lying further apart. The system provides different views by allowing modification of the underlying measure of affinity. The system is also able to track dynamically the evolution of the objects' relationships.Based on the affinity concept, we develop new dynamic presentation techniques that do not depend on the explicit display of links between the nodes of the graph. The dynamic layout algorithm that we present at the end of the paper is based on these techniques and it allows for the display of rapidly changing relationships between objects.