View source for Zooming user interface

{{Short description|Graphical interface allowing for image scaling}}
[[Image:ZUI example.png|thumb|300px|right|Example of a ZUI]]

In [[computing]], a '''zooming user interface''' or '''zoomable user interface''' ('''ZUI''', pronounced zoo-ee) is a type of [[graphical user interface|graphical user interface (GUI)]] on which [[End-user (computer science)|users]] can change the scale of the [[viewport|viewed area]] in order to see more detail or less, and browse through different [[Electronic document|documents]]. Information elements appear directly on an infinite [[virtual desktop]] (usually created using [[vector graphics]]), instead of in windows. Users can [[Panning (camera)|pan]] across the virtual surface in two dimensions and [[Page zooming|zoom]] into objects of interest. For example, as you zoom into a text object it may be represented as a small dot, then a thumbnail of a page of text, then a full-sized page and finally a magnified view of the page.

ZUIs use zooming as the main metaphor for browsing through [[hyperlink]]ed or [[Multivariate statistics|multivariate]] information.
Objects present inside a zoomed page can in turn be zoomed themselves to reveal further detail, allowing for [[Recursion|recursive]] [[Nesting (computing)|nesting]] and an arbitrary level of zoom.

When the level of detail present in the resized object is changed to fit the relevant information into the current size, instead of being a proportional view of the whole object, it's called semantic zooming.<ref name="windows8">{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/09/hands-on-with-windows-8-a-pc-operating-system-for-the-tablet-age.ars|publisher=Ars Technica|author=Peter Bright|title=Hands-on with Windows 8: A PC operating system for the tablet age|date=13 September 2011 }}</ref>

Some consider the ZUI paradigm as a flexible and realistic successor to the traditional windowing GUI, being a [[Post-WIMP]] interface.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

== History ==
[[Ivan Sutherland]] presented the first program for zooming through and creating graphical structures with constraints and [[Class (programming)|instancing]], on a CRT in his [[Sketchpad]] program in 1962.<ref>[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-574.pdf Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system]</ref>

A more general interface was done by the [[Architecture Machine Group]] in the 1970s at MIT. Hand tracking, [[touchscreen]], [[joystick]], and [[Voice user interface|voice control]] were employed to control an infinite plane of projects, documents, contacts, video and interactive programs. One of the instances of this project was called Spatial Dataland.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2012/5/24/3040959/dataland-mits-70s-media-room-concept-that-influenced-the-mac Dataland: the MIT's '70s media room concept that influenced the Mac]</ref>

Another GUI environment of the 70's, which used the zooming idea was [[Smalltalk]] at [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]], which had infinite ''desktops'' (only later named such by [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]]), that could be zoomed in upon from a birds eye view after the user had recognized a miniature of the window setup for the project.

The longest running effort to create a ZUI has been the Pad++ project begun by [[Ken Perlin]], [[James D. Hollan|Jim Hollan]], and [[Ben Bederson]] at [[New York University]] and continued at the [[University of New Mexico]] under Hollan's direction. After Pad++, Bederson developed Jazz, then Piccolo,<ref>[http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/piccolo/index.shtml Piccolo] (formerly Jazz): ZUI toolkit for Java and C# (no longer actively maintained)</ref> and now Piccolo2D<ref>[http://piccolo2d.org Piccolo2D]: Piccolo's successor.</ref> at the [[University of Maryland, College Park]], which is maintained in [[Java (programming language)|Java]] and [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]]. More recent ZUI efforts include [[Archy (software)|Archy]] by the late [[Jef Raskin]], [http://zvtm.sf.net ZVTM] developed at [[INRIA]] (which uses the Sigma lens<ref>{{citation |contribution=Sigma lenses: focus-context transitions combining space, time and translucence |title=Proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems |year=2008}}</ref> technique), and the simple ZUI of the [[Squeak]] [[Smalltalk]] programming environment and language. The term ZUI itself was coined by [[:fr:Franklin Servan-Schreiber|Franklin Servan-Schreiber]] and Tom Grauman while they worked together at the [[Sony]] Research Laboratories. They were developing the first Zooming User Interface [[Library (computing)|library]] based on Java 1.0, in partnership with Prof. Ben Bederson, [[University of New Mexico]], and Prof. Ken Perlin, [[New York University]].

GeoPhoenix, a Cambridge, MA, startup associated with the [[MIT Media Lab]], founded by Julian Orbanes, Adriana Guzman, Max Riesenhuber, released the first mass-marketed commercial Zoomspace in 2002–03 on the Sony [[CLIÉ]] [[personal digital assistant]] (PDA) handheld, with Ken Miura of Sony

In 2002, Pieter Muller extended the [[Oberon (operating system)|Oberon System]] with a zooming user interface and named it ''Active Object System'' (AOS).<ref name="AOS">{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Muller |first=Pieter Johannes |date=2002 |title=The active object system design and multiprocessor implementation |url=http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:26082/eth-26082-02.pdf |publisher=Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich ([[ETH Zurich]])}}</ref> In 2005, due to copyright issues, it was renamed to ''Bluebottle'', and in 2008, to ''[[A2 (operating system)|A2]]''.

In 2005, Franklin Servan-Schreiber founded Zoomorama, based on work he did at the Sony Research Laboratories in the mid-1990s. The Zooming Browser for Collage of High Resolution Images was released in Alpha in October 2007. Zoomorama's browser is all Flash-based. In 2010, project development ended, but many examples are still available on the site.

In 2006, [[Hillcrest Labs]] introduced the HoME television navigation system, the first graphical, zooming interface for television.<ref name="Derene">''Popular Mechanics'' 2007. Retrieved November 11, 2011.  Glen Derene. [http://www.popularmechanics.com/video/wii-20-loop-remote-lets-your-click-by-gesture-video-447868210 Wii 2.0: Loop remote lets you click by gesture.]</ref>
 
In 2007, Microsoft's Live Labs released a zooming UI for web browsing called [[Microsoft Live Labs Deepfish]] for the Windows Mobile 5 platform.

Apple's [[iPhone]] (premiered June 2007) uses a stylized form of ZUI, in which panning and zooming are performed through a [[touch user interface]] (TUI). A more fully realised ZUI is present in the [[iOS]] home screen (as of [[iOS 7]]), with zooming from the homescreen in to folders and finally in to apps. The photo app zooms out from a single photo to moments, to collections, to years, and similarly in the calendar app with day, month and year views.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/ |title=iOS 7 |url-status=dead |access-date=2017-09-19 |archive-date=2013-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906014233/http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/ }}</ref> It is not a full ZUI implementation since these operations are applied to bounded spaces (such as web pages or photos) and have a limited range of zooming and panning.

From 2008 to 2010, [[GNOME Shell]] used a zooming user interface for virtual workspaces management.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-02-20 |title=GNOME Shell, 2010-02-20 build: a Zoomable User Interface |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN4lW_eaeO8  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/NN4lW_eaeO8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=YouTube |access-date=2020-12-26}}{{cbignore}}</ref> This ZUI was eventually replaced by a different, scrolling-based design.

In 2017, bigpictu.re offered an infinite (pan and zoom) notepad as a web application based on one of the first ZUI open-source libraries.<ref name="bigpicturejs">{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=bigpicture.js, a library that allows infinite panning and infinite zooming in HTML pages |url=https://github.com/josephernest/bigpicture.js |website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>

In 2017, Zircle UI was released. It is an open source UI library that uses zoomable navigation and circular shapes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017–2021 |title=Zircle UI: A frontend library to develop zoomable user interfaces |url=https://zircleui.github.io/docs/ |website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>

In 2022, the [[Miro (collaboration platform)|Miro collaboration platform]], which uses a zooming user interface, reported 40 million users. It was released in 2011 as ''RealtimeBoard'', eventually being rebranded to ''Miro'' in 2019.

==See also==
* [[Vector-based graphical user interface]]
* [[Resolution independence]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2012/06/02/prophets-of-zoom The Economist 2012 article about ZUI]

{{GUI widgets}}
{{User interfaces}}
{{Operating system}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zooming User Interface}}
[[Category:Graphical user interfaces]]
[[Category:Zoomable user interfaces|*]]
[[Category:User interface techniques]]
[[Category:3D GUIs]]

[[id:Prezi]]