US 2018/0121047 A1 · GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE LIST CONTENT DENSITY ADJUSTMENT

Abstract

Changes in display area automatically lead to changes in the format used to display graphical content of a list of items such as thumbnails or application icons, for example. A list display controller transitions between scrollable format and fixed format, and transitions between fixed formats with different numbers of display slots. Transitions may be triggered by window resizing, by moving a graphical user interface from one device to another while the application runs, or by switching between landscape and portrait mode, for example. Even when the format is not changed in response to a display area change, graphical content is automatically resized to match changes in the size of the display area containing the graphical content. Format transitions and content resizing help provide a pleasant user experience by maintaining content density with expected usage patterns for a given device, and reduce proliferation of code versions.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computational system for dynamically adjusting content density by controlling whether a list displayed in a graphical user interface is scrollable, the system comprising:

a memory;
a list of graphical items residing in the memory;
a display subsystem having a hardware screen with a display area, a portion of the display area being available through the graphical user interface for displaying one or more of the graphical items in a list format, the list format having a visual orientation which is a vertical orientation or a horizontal orientation, the display area portion having dimensions which include a width and a height;
a processor in operable communication with the memory and the display subsystem;
and
a list display controller which controls the processor to monitor the display subsystem to detect a display area portion change which alters the width or height of the display area portion and to automatically disable scrolling of displayed items along the visual orientation when a predetermined dimension of the display area portion along the visual orientation exceeds a predetermined threshold and to otherwise automatically enable such scrolling.

3 more elements

A computer-implemented method for dynamically adjusting content density by relocating graphical content within an underlying row displayed in a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

displaying graphical content of a first graphical item in a first format in a displayed portion of the row within the graphical user interface on a first hardware screen of a first computing device;
displaying at least a portion of graphical content of at least one additional graphical item in the first format in the displayed portion of the row within the graphical user interface;
constantly monitoring a width of the displayed portion of the row to detect a format transition condition where the width crosses a predetermined format transition value;
and
automatically relocating at least a portion of the graphical content, by a processor, to a portion of the row in a second format in response to the format transition condition so that the graphical content displayed in the row to a user changes in at least one of the following ways:
(a) graphical content which before the format transition condition was not displayed but was available for display in a horizontal scroll format is displayed after the format transition condition in a fixed format, or (b) graphical content which before the format transition condition was displayed in a fixed format is not displayed after the format transition condition but is available for display in a horizontal scroll format.

3 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium configured with data and instructions which upon execution perform a method for dynamically relocating graphical content that is displayed in a graphical user interface, thereby adjusting content density in response to changes in the area available through the graphical user interface for displaying the graphical content, the method comprising:

displaying a number of graphical items in a first format within the graphical user interface on a first hardware screen of a first computing device, the graphical items including graphical content, the first format being one of:
a horizontal scroll format or a fixed format;
detecting a change in the number of graphical items to be displayed, the change being such that the number of graphical items to be displayed crosses a predetermined format transition value;
and
automatically performing, by a processor, at least one of the following format transitions:
(a) relocating at least a portion of at least one of the graphical items so that graphical content which, before the format transition was not displayed but was available for display in a horizontal scroll format, is displayed after the format transition in a fixed format;
(b) relocating at least a portion of at least one of the graphical items so that graphical content which, before the format transition was displayed in a fixed format, is not displayed after the format transition but is available for display in a horizontal scroll format;
(c) as a display area containing the displayed graphical items is continuously resized, continuously resizing the displayed graphical items in a fixed format having M graphical items displayed and then as the display area continues being resized displaying the displayed graphical items in a fixed format having N graphical items displayed, with M and N being different positive integers.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Graphical user interface list content density adjustment

Life of this patent

Graphical user interface list content density adjustment

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20