Applying Graph Layout Techniques to Web Information Visualization and Navigation

Graph layout techniques have been developed for many years, there is a few applying to real world applications. This paper presents an application of applying graph layout techniques in Web information visualization and navigation. Most Web browsers, including Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer, cannot give users a visual "map" to guide their Web journey. An approach of using a graph for Web navigation has been proposed. That is to look at the whole of cyberspace as one huge graph. To explore this huge graph, it is critical to find an effective method of tracking a sequence of subsets (Web sub-graphs) of the huge graph based on the user's focus. Any on-line Web sub-graph should fit in the display window. To enhance the display of a Web sub-graph, there should not be any overlaps between node images in the Web sub-graph.