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| Enhanced thumbnails are images of documents that are enhanced to emphasize certain elements in the document. To make an enhanced thumbnail, we start with a small thumbnail image of a document. We then fade this image and superimpose "popouts" – semi-transparent layers of large text that show where words are located in the original document. We also make some other subtle changes, like enlarging text headers so that they’re easier to read. The enhancements are based on perceptual principles, so the right parts of the document draw your attention visually. For example, a model of visual attention helps us choose highlight colors that "pop out" from the background. Enhanced thumbnails combine the advantages of text and plain images. Like text, they convey semantically rich information. Like images, they reveal genre information and can be skimmed easily. As a result, enhanced thumbnails are very useful for tasks like searching the Web. |
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| Search results for side effects of Ritalin | |||
| We’ve tried out enhanced thumbnails in a couple of different settings. We’ve built an overview+detail Web browser, Popout Prism, that allows users to get a quick overview of where different keywords appear in a document. |
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| Popout Prism | |||
| We’ve also demonstrated that enhanced thumbnails can make it easier for users to sort through the information presented by a search engine. We tested enhanced thumbnails on technical and non-technical participants at PARC. Each participant was presented with realistic search tasks such as "Find the side-effects of ritalin" or "Find Joe Hellerstein’s homepage." The participants then searched for the answer using standard text summaries, plain thumbnails, or enhanced thumbnails. During the study, participants were presented a total of 1,800 different Web summaries. Across the collection of question categories, we found that enhanced thumbnails yielded the best and most consistent performance. Participants using enhanced thumbnails found the answers to their queries 29 percent faster than when they used text summaries, and 22 percent faster than when they used plain thumbnails. |
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| Participant response is very positive. A number of people
say they miss enhanced thumbnails when they return to using a traditional
interface. Users also suggest many other applications that could be improved
by the use of enhanced thumbnails, like file browsers or code development
environments. |
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