Browsing large HTML tables on small screens

Abstract

We propose new interaction techniques that support better browsing of large HTML tables on small screen devices, such as mobile phones. We propose three modes for browsing tables: normal mode, record mode, and cell mode. Normal mode renders tables in the ordinary way, but provides various useful functions for browsing large tables, such as hiding unnecessary rows and columns. Record mode regards each row (or column) as the basic information unit and displays it in a record-like format with column (or row) headers, while cell mode regards each cell as the basic unit and displays each cell together with its corresponding row and column headers. For these table presentations, we need to identify row and column headers that explain the meaning of rows and columns. To provide users with both row and column headers even when the tables have attributes for only one of them, we introduce the concept of keys and develop a method of automatically discovering attributes and keys in tables. Another issue in these presentations is how to handle composite cells spanning multiple rows or columns. We determine the semantics of such composite cells and render them in appropriate ways in accordance with their semantics.