Miller columns are a browsing/visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures. The columns allow multiple levels of the hierarchy to be open at once, and provide a visual representation of the current location. It is closely related to techniques used earlier in the Smalltalk browser, but was independently invented by Mark S. Miller in 1980 at Yale University. The technique was then used at Project Xanadu, Datapoint, and NeXT.
While at Datapoint, Miller generalized the technique to browse directed graphs with labeled nodes and directed graphs with labeled nodes and arcs. In all cases, the technique is appropriate only for structures with high degree (large fanout). For low-degree structures, outline editors or graph viewers are more effective.
Read more about Miller Columns: Popularizing The Column Browser
Famous quotes containing the words miller and/or columns:
“Then sing, young hearts that are full of cheer,
With never a thought of sorrow;
The old goes out, but the glad young year
Comes merrily in tomorrow.”
—Emily Miller (1833–1913)
“When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)