Displaying and browsing through a sparse view of content items in a hierarchy

A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for displaying and browsing through a sparse view of content items in a hierarchy, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to display a set of content items with a common parent in the hierarchy, wherein a display area on a computer display has insufficient space to simultaneously display all of the content items from the set of content items, and wherein the set of content items includes a first subset of content items and a disjoint second subset of content items;
• displaying the first subset of content items;
• displaying as a content item in the hierarchy a search element that represents the second subset of content items, wherein displaying the search element indicates to a user the presence of the second subset of content items which are not currently displayed;
• upon receiving a selection of the search element by a user, initiating a search operation that allows the user to determine and select a desired content item from the second subset of content items;
• upon receiving a user-selected content item from the second subset of content items during the search operation, adjusting the first subset of content items to include the user-selected content item;
• and
• displaying the adjusted first subset of content items in the computer display.

An apparatus for displaying and browsing through a sparse view of content items in a hierarchy, comprising:

• a receiving mechanism configured to receive a request to display a set of content items with a common parent in the hierarchy, wherein a display area on a computer display has insufficient space to simultaneously display all of the content items from the set of content items, and wherein the set of content items includes a first subset of content items and a disjoint second subset of content items;
• a display mechanism configured to display the first subset of content items;
• a display mechanism further configured to display as a content item in the hierarchy a search element that represents the second subset of content items, wherein displaying the search element indicates to a user the presence of the second subset of content items which are not currently displayed;
• a search mechanism configured to, upon receiving a selection of the search element by a user, initiate a search operation that allows the user to determine and select a desired content item from the second subset of content items;
• and
• wherein the search mechanism is further configured to, upon receiving a user-selected content item from the second subset of content items during the search operation, adjust the first subset of content items to include the user-selected content item and display the adjusted first subset of content items in the computer display.