Multipane browser to offer choice

Developers at the University of Southampton have created a new semantic web interface, mSpace, which they said will lead to more focused internet searches, and improved results.

The mSpace software framework was developed in the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the university, and lets users' machines pull relevant returns and content into one easily understandable view.

This multipane browser is described by the team as an "interaction model to help explore relationships in information". Search returns are provided in several associated categ- ories, allowing the user to drill down, selecting the ones that are appropriate before continuing their search. On its preview pages the ECS claims that, "while the use of a multipane browser is not in itself new, the operations available on it - slicing, sorting, swapping, adding, subtracting and detail view at each element for each category - are".

Dr monica Schraefel, leader of the ECS unit, said in a statement: "The big difference between this and other web applications is that people get a lot of associated information in one window. No more clicking through opening and closing a menagerie of links and windows."

As well as text-based information the software can provide "preview clues". For example, while searching for classical music, mSpace offers multimedia previews, giving the user a better understanding of the topic in hand. The mSpace framework software is available for download from SourceForge at the URL below.