The temporal dimension of the web has been mostly ignoredwhen designing user interfaces for both searching and document browsing.The dynamic nature of the web is invisible to the typical user despitethe fact that most web documents and sites change at a very rapid pace.In this paper we present and describe visual extensions applied to bothindividual web sites and search engines, that capture content activityover time. This idea is implemented with a prototype that processespublicly available web feeds to generate activity profiles and enhancesselected web sites using sparklines. These proposals bring a temporalperspective to the users browsing experience

Cristina Ribeiro

Gabriel David

Sérgio Nunes

Open Repository of the University of Porto

Improving Web User Experience with
Document Activity Sparklines
Se´rgio Nunes1, Cristina Ribeiro1,2 and Gabriel David1,2
1 Departamento de Engenharia Informa´tica
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
2 INESC-Porto
Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465 Porto PORTUGAL
{sergio.nunes,mcr,gtd}@fe.up.pt
Abstract. The temporal dimension of the web has been mostly ignored
when designing user interfaces for both searching and document brows-
ing. The dynamic nature of the web is invisible to the typical user despite
the fact that most web documents and sites change at a very rapid pace.
In this paper we present and describe visual extensions applied to both
individual web sites and search engines, that capture content activity
over time. This idea is implemented with a prototype that processes
publicly available web feeds to generate activity profiles and enhances
selected web sites using sparklines. These proposals bring a temporal
perspective to the user’s browsing experience.
1 Introduction
Previous research on web dynamics has shown that web documents change at a
very fast pace. Ntoulas et al. [4] have analyzed both content and link structure
evolution of web pages and found that, after one year, 50% of the content on
the web is new. Temporal information about web documents can be found either
as document-based or as web-based evidence. A detailed survey about possible
sources of temporal information on the web is presented in Nunes [5].
The use of temporal information in end-user interfaces has already been
addressed. In the context of personal information retrieval Dumais et al. [3]
found that time is an important information retrieval cue. In the field of web
search, Alonso et al. [2] have used timelines to improve the functionality of
search applications. They describe a prototype based on the DBLP bibliography
collection. Our work addresses the same problem, proposing a different approach
to bring temporal data to the web user’s interface. Also, we present a prototype
that works with live web data.
We have developed interface enhancements that use publicly available web
feeds to present content activity sparklines. We leverage on the idea of sparklines,
a type of information-rich graphics proposed by Tufte [6]. In the following sec-
tions we describe two types of UI improvements — website activity profiles and
search engine results enhancements.
2 Activity Profiles
Web feeds are XML documents that provide information about content updates.
The Atom Syndication Format is a popular IETF standard for publishing web
feeds [1]. Typically, web feeds are structured in items containing a timestamp.
Using the timestamp information we are able to aggregate items by day to pro-
duce an activity profile. Figure 1 shows the activity profile of a blog as a sparkline
on the browser’s top left corner. Even though this profile is only based on 13
updates, it captures very clearly the blogger’s recent activity. Also highlighted
in the figure is the additional info available as a tooltip when the mouse hovers
the image.
Fig. 1. A blog’s activity profile with tooltip.
After conducting an informal survey over a large number of public websites,
we found that activity profiles for blogs and news feeds are intuitive and represent
an interesting extension to the standard UI. These client-side extensions bring
a temporal perspective to the user’s browsing experience.
3 Enhancing Search Results
Following upon the idea of using web feeds as a source of data for producing
activity profiles, we apply the same idea to current search engine interfaces. We
developed extensions for search engines focused in news and blogs, since these
typically include public web feeds. Figure 2 shows a set of live results from the
Icerocket Blog Search3 with activity sparklines presented next to each result. We
chose to use sparklines due to their high data density and small size, resulting
in a low visual impact in the typical web search results layout.
This interface element informs the end-user about the recent activity of each
result item. For instance, it is very easy to spot inactive blogs on a long list of
search results. On the other hand, it is easy to identify activity peaks related to
specific subjects.
3 http://www.icerocket.com/
Fig. 2. Icerocket Blog Search with sparklines.
4 Prototype Development
The prototypes were developed using Greasemonkey4, a Javascript client-side
extension to the Firefox web browser. Our Greasemonkey scripts are activated
each time a web page is loaded. If available, public web feeds are automatically
discovered and parsed. This data is then used to produce a daily frequency count
of the feed’s activity. Finally, sparklines are drawn in real-time using the Google
Chart API5 and embedded in the document’s layout.
As shown in the previous screenshots, a tooltip is added to each sparkline
containing additional information about the feed’s activity. For each feed, the
tooltip provides details on the total number of posts, the total number of days
covered, the daily average and maximum value, along with the day of highest
activity. While the activity profile extension works on every site that publishes
a web feed, the search results extension only works on selected search engines
(e.g. Google Blog Search, IceRocket, Technorati).
All prototypes are available online at http://irlab.fe.up.pt/p/sparkfeeds.
These are fully functional prototypes that were successfully used as a proof of
concept in real-world scenarios. The main challenges faced during the develop-
ment of these extensions were the parsing of dates (due to the plethora of possible
“standards”) and the parsing of web documents for embedding the sparklines.
4 http://www.greasespot.net/
5 http://code.google.com/apis/chart/
5 Conclusions
Currently available web feeds can be used as a source of temporal information to
improve end-user web interfaces. We describe UI enhancements for both individ-
ual sites and search engine results. Also, we present fully functional prototypes
based on client-side extensions. Given the strong temporal nature of the web, we
feel that exposing temporal information to the final user presents several oppor-
tunities for UI developments. Google has recently launched a public experimental
interface that presents results on a timeline6.
Preliminary ad-hoc tests conducted with a small number of users resulted in
very positive feedback. This was particularly evident in open problems, where
the exploratory nature of the task is clearer. We plan to design and conduct users
studies as future work. For instance, we plan to evaluate if these enhancements
result in significant improvements when users try to complete specific tasks.
6 Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by Fundac¸a˜o para a Cieˆncia e a Tecnologia
(FCT) and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE - III Quadro Comunita´rio de Apoio),
under grant SFRH/BD/31043/2006.
References
1. The Atom syndication format. Technical report, Internet Engineering Task Force,
December 2005.
2. O. Alonso, R. Baeza-Yates, and M. Gertz. Exploratory search using timelines. In
SIGCHI 2007 Workshop on Exploratory Search and HCI Workshop, 2007.
3. S. Dumais, E. Cutrell, J. J. Cadiz, G. Jancke, R. Sarin, and D. C. Robbins. Stuff
I’ve seen: a system for personal information retrieval and re-use. In SIGIR ’03:
Proceedings of the 26th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research
and Development in Information Retrieval, pages 72–79. ACM Press, 2003.
4. A. Ntoulas, J. Cho, and C. Olston. What’s new on the web?: the evolution of
the web from a search engine perspective. In WWW ’04: Proceedings of the 13th
International World Wide Web Conference, pages 1–12, New York, NY, USA, 2004.
ACM Press.
5. S. Nunes. Exploring temporal evidence in web information retrieval. In A. MacFar-
lane, L. Azzopardi, and I. Ounis, editors, BCS IRSG Symposium Future Directions
in Information Access (FDIA 2007), pages 44–50. BCS IRSG, BCS IRSG, August
2007.
6. E. R. Tufte. Beautiful Evidence. Graphics Press, 2006.
6 http://www.google.com/experimental/


English

Improving Web user experience with document activity sparklines

Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto

Improving Web User Experience withDocument Activity SparklinesSe´rgio Nunes1, Cristina Ribeiro1,2 and Gabriel David1,21 Departamento de Engenharia Informa´ticaFaculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto2 INESC-PortoRua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465 Porto PORTUGAL{sergio.nunes,mcr,gtd}@fe.up.ptAbstract. The temporal dimension of the web has been mostly ignoredwhen designing user interfaces for both searching and document brows-ing. The dynamic nature of the web is invisible to the typical user despitethe fact that most web documents and sites change at a very rapid pace.In this paper we present and describe visual extensions applied to bothindividual web sites and search engines, that capture content activityover time. This idea is implemented with a prototype that processespublicly available web feeds to generate activity profiles and enhancesselected web sites using sparklines. These proposals bring a temporalperspective to the user’s browsing experience.1 IntroductionPrevious research on web dynamics has shown that web documents change at avery fast pace. Ntoulas et al. [4] have analyzed both content and link structureevolution of web pages and found that, after one year, 50% of the content onthe web is new. Temporal information about web documents can be found eitheras document-based or as web-based evidence. A detailed survey about possiblesources of temporal information on the web is presented in Nunes [5].The use of temporal information in end-user interfaces has already beenaddressed. In the context of personal information retrieval Dumais et al. [3]found that time is an important information retrieval cue. In the field of websearch, Alonso et al. [2] have used timelines to improve the functionality ofsearch applications. They describe a prototype based on the DBLP bibliographycollection. Our work addresses the same problem, proposing a different approachto bring temporal data to the web user’s interface. Also, we present a prototypethat works with live web data.We have developed interface enhancements that use publicly available webfeeds to present content activity sparklines. We leverage on the idea of sparklines,a type of information-rich graphics proposed by Tufte [6]. In the following sec-tions we describe two types of UI improvements — website activity profiles andsearch engine results enhancements.2 Activity ProfilesWeb feeds are XML documents that provide information about content updates.The Atom Syndication Format is a popular IETF standard for publishing webfeeds [1]. Typically, web feeds are structured in items containing a timestamp.Using the timestamp information we are able to aggregate items by day to pro-duce an activity profile. Figure 1 shows the activity profile of a blog as a sparklineon the browser’s top left corner. Even though this profile is only based on 13updates, it captures very clearly the blogger’s recent activity. Also highlightedin the figure is the additional info available as a tooltip when the mouse hoversthe image.Fig. 1. A blog’s activity profile with tooltip.After conducting an informal survey over a large number of public websites,we found that activity profiles for blogs and news feeds are intuitive and representan interesting extension to the standard UI. These client-side extensions bringa temporal perspective to the user’s browsing experience.3 Enhancing Search ResultsFollowing upon the idea of using web feeds as a source of data for producingactivity profiles, we apply the same idea to current search engine interfaces. Wedeveloped extensions for search engines focused in news and blogs, since thesetypically include public web feeds. Figure 2 shows a set of live results from theIcerocket Blog Search3 with activity sparklines presented next to each result. Wechose to use sparklines due to their high data density and small size, resultingin a low visual impact in the typical web search results layout.This interface element informs the end-user about the recent activity of eachresult item. For instance, it is very easy to spot inactive blogs on a long list ofsearch results. On the other hand, it is easy to identify activity peaks related tospecific subjects.3 http://www.icerocket.com/Fig. 2. Icerocket Blog Search with sparklines.4 Prototype DevelopmentThe prototypes were developed using Greasemonkey4, a Javascript client-sideextension to the Firefox web browser. Our Greasemonkey scripts are activatedeach time a web page is loaded. If available, public web feeds are automaticallydiscovered and parsed. This data is then used to produce a daily frequency countof the feed’s activity. Finally, sparklines are drawn in real-time using the GoogleChart API5 and embedded in the document’s layout.As shown in the previous screenshots, a tooltip is added to each sparklinecontaining additional information about the feed’s activity. For each feed, thetooltip provides details on the total number of posts, the total number of dayscovered, the daily average and maximum value, along with the day of highestactivity. While the activity profile extension works on every site that publishesa web feed, the search results extension only works on selected search engines(e.g. Google Blog Search, IceRocket, Technorati).All prototypes are available online at http://irlab.fe.up.pt/p/sparkfeeds.These are fully functional prototypes that were successfully used as a proof ofconcept in real-world scenarios. The main challenges faced during the develop-ment of these extensions were the parsing of dates (due to the plethora of possible“standards”) and the parsing of web documents for embedding the sparklines.4 http://www.greasespot.net/5 http://code.google.com/apis/chart/5 ConclusionsCurrently available web feeds can be used as a source of temporal information toimprove end-user web interfaces. We describe UI enhancements for both individ-ual sites and search engine results. Also, we present fully functional prototypesbased on client-side extensions. Given the strong temporal nature of the web, wefeel that exposing temporal information to the final user presents several oppor-tunities for UI developments. Google has recently launched a public experimentalinterface that presents results on a timeline6.Preliminary ad-hoc tests conducted with a small number of users resulted invery positive feedback. This was particularly evident in open problems, wherethe exploratory nature of the task is clearer. We plan to design and conduct usersstudies as future work. For instance, we plan to evaluate if these enhancementsresult in significant improvements when users try to complete specific tasks.6 AcknowledgmentsThis work was supported in part by Fundac¸a˜o para a Cieˆncia e a Tecnologia(FCT) and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE - III Quadro Comunita´rio de Apoio),under grant SFRH/BD/31043/2006.References1. The Atom syndication format. Technical report, Internet Engineering Task Force,December 2005.2. O. Alonso, R. Baeza-Yates, and M. Gertz. Exploratory search using timelines. InSIGCHI 2007 Workshop on Exploratory Search and HCI Workshop, 2007.3. S. Dumais, E. Cutrell, J. J. Cadiz, G. Jancke, R. Sarin, and D. C. Robbins. StuffI’ve seen: a system for personal information retrieval and re-use. In SIGIR ’03:Proceedings of the 26th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Researchand Development in Information Retrieval, pages 72–79. ACM Press, 2003.4. A. Ntoulas, J. Cho, and C. Olston. What’s new on the web?: the evolution ofthe web from a search engine perspective. In WWW ’04: Proceedings of the 13thInternational World Wide Web Conference, pages 1–12, New York, NY, USA, 2004.ACM Press.5. S. Nunes. Exploring temporal evidence in web information retrieval. In A. MacFar-lane, L. Azzopardi, and I. Ounis, editors, BCS IRSG Symposium Future Directionsin Information Access (FDIA 2007), pages 44–50. BCS IRSG, BCS IRSG, August2007.6. E. R. Tufte. Beautiful Evidence. Graphics Press, 2006.6 http://www.google.com/experimental/

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Improving Web user experience with document activity sparklines

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