i’m not one to go googoo over wacky interface navigation tricks. but i think the recent release of jazz would be fun to play with as a visualization method for the dynamic topical index that i rambled on about yesterday. it’s far too perfect that this type of application appears to be just what the designers of jazz had in mind [and there’s the added bonus that it’s released under the gpl]:
“The “Jazz” platform is a Java-based zooming user interface (ZUI) development toolkit. Applications implemented in Jazz can easily zoom, pan, and transform graphical and text objects organized into a scenegraph of hierarchical cameras, nodes and objects. The views offer smooth, animated transitions throughout an infinite plane of information. With Jazz’s close integration with Java and Swing, all Jazz applications are platform independent and run in any browser with a Java 2 Run-time Engine (JRE)”
“In the future, Bederson says the Jazz Band also expects to see Jazz being used to rescue users from information overload, even where applications don’t yet exist. For example, applications built on top of Jazz could maintain your surfing trail on the Web so you can find your way back; could organize your email and documents; and could help you find what you need through e-commerce storefronts or search engines.”