Atom hopes to run rings around online search rivals

IF YOU have ever mined into a website looking for information, only to find yourself wandering around lost and wondering how to get out, then a new navigation interface developed at NUI Galway could help keep things in perspective.

Called “Atom”, the interface presents navigation links in concentric circles rather than the traditional linear menu approach.When a user clicks on a central link or file, a series of related links open in a circle around it.

The ringed pattern in Atom is more intuitive for users than the vertical list interface and is similar to the “mind-mapping” approach of presenting information radially, explains John McGuire, a commercialisation executive at the technology transfer office in NUIG.

“Atom is a new user interface, you don’t have to go in and out of folders,” he says. “Instead, as you are going through your Atom it explodes out, so it’s all in front of you. You can see where you came from and where you are going to.”

By moving through related links as the layout builds up, the user can navigate quickly and get a sense of how the links fit together and can easily jump to different categories, he explains.

The approach grew out of a research stream looking at data visualisation at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (Deri), a Science Foundation Ireland centre for science, engineering and technology. Developed by PhD candidate Krystian Samp at Deri, the Atom interface received funding from Enterprise Ireland and has been road-tested by Irish website mykidstime.ie in the “look and book” section where site users can search for kid-friendly activities around the country.

So far, feedback has been positive and in controlled experiments Atom outperformed linear menus by over 20 per cent, according to McGuire, who notes the circle-based approach would be convenient for small handheld devices.

A patent has been filed for Atom, and commercially the interface is being offered in several models – for one-off use, for multiple instances within a larger organisation and for reselling.