User Friendly Zooming Interface

Once the constants in the positioning algorithm where adjusted to reduce the likely hood of node overlap it left the map with a high level of scale differentiation between 1st order category nodes and content nodes. This meant that the user had to zoom in a great deal to read the content nodes. Since the map is designed so that users can explore content across the map this meant the map required heavy use of the scroll wheel to maneuver from node to node. After a few times of doing this beta users reported that they felt they where spending the majority of their time and effort zooming in and out of the map.

This is a specific issue that i imagined might become a sticking point with users. After giving some thought to the matter I have decided that the best way to face this issue is to create a user power tool. In particular a power tool that gives the user the ability to fluidly and relatively effortlessly change scale in the map around points of interest. To this I'm going to build another fundamental method of interactively with the map.


Actions
keyboard shortcut
If a user presses the control key the clicks a node with the left mouse button

Mouse only
If the user triple clicks a node.

Triggered Effect
The viewing window will then automatically center on the node and zoom in to a readable scale. In effect users can leap from node to node throughout the map and automatically change scale.