Contextual Deep Expansion Handle for UI Tree Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional expand/collapse actions in tree-style hierarchical listings are cumbersome and computationally costly, especially in large and deep trees, leading to performance issues and user experience delays, as they require repetitive single-level expansions and can be time-consuming to refresh and render.
Innovation Solution
A deep-expansion system that allows users to expand hierarchical data structures by a single action, providing a contextual deep-expansion handle as a popover or toolbar button, enabling recursive expansion without sacrificing performance or user experience, and offering additional information about the expansion operation to inform user decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If single-level expansion is implemented to avoid computational burden, then performance is maintained, but user experience deteriorates due to repetitive actions and time-consuming operations
Solution Approach 1:
The expansion operation is segmented into two distinct modes: single-level expansion for incremental navigation and deep expansion for rapid access. The UI provides separate handles for each mode, allowing users to choose the appropriate granularity based on their needs, thus resolving the contradiction between performance maintenance and operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts the expansion behavior based on user input. A single click performs traditional single-level expansion, while a double click triggers deep expansion to the leaf level. This dynamic response allows the system to optimize between computational efficiency and user convenience in real-time.
2Ease of operation
If deep expansion is implemented in a single action, then user experience improves by reducing repetitive actions, but computational cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Before performing deep expansion, the system performs preliminary actions including displaying a confirmation popover, calculating the expansion depth, and preparing the rendering pipeline. This preliminary preparation allows the system to optimize the subsequent expansion operation and inform the user of the computational impact before commitment.
Solution Approach 2:
A confirmation popover serves as an intermediary between the user's deep expansion request and the actual execution. This intermediary presents information about the expansion scope, allows user confirmation or cancellation, and provides a transition period for the system to prepare computationally, thus managing the complexity burden.
3Device complexity
If traditional expand/collapse actions are used, then computational overhead is manageable, but time consumption increases for deep tree navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic action through the confirmation popover that appears at intervals during the deep expansion process. The popover provides updates about the expansion progress and allows the user to interrupt or confirm the operation, creating a rhythmic interaction pattern that manages computational load while reducing overall navigation time.
4Ease of operation
If search and filter mechanisms are used to work around expansion issues, then navigation becomes possible, but context is reduced and computational complexity is not solved
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using search and filter mechanisms that hide parts of the tree, the patent inverts the approach by providing expansion mechanisms that reveal more of the tree structure. The deep expansion handle and confirmation popover allow users to explicitly control what parts of the tree are expanded, maintaining full context while enabling efficient navigation.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are computer-implemented method, system, and computer-program product (computer-readable storage medium) embodiments for contextual deep expansion in user-interface trees. An embodiment includes configuring at least one computer processor to perform operations that include accessing, in a hierarchical data structure, a first-level data structure including a first group of one or more first-level elements, and a second-level data structure including second group of one or more second-level elements, and a third-level data structure including third group of one or more third-level elements. An embodiment may further include operations of presenting, via an interface, a handle corresponding to at least the third group and the given second-level element, in response to a first input event configured to expand the first-level data structure, and deeply expanding a presentation of the hierarchical data structure, in response to the second input, to show at least some elements of the first, second, and third groups.