Site map for visualizing both a web site's structure and keywords

Abstract

Many people use the World Wide Web to get information; however, it is not always easy to obtain the desired information, since the number of Web sites and Web pages is huge, and most of them are not structured. To solve this problem, some Web site managers visualize their sites' structure and/or keyword information; this is an effective way of developing an easy-to-navigate Web site. Even if both functions are provided, however, in conventional systems they are provided as separate functions, and no relation exists between them; a user cannot see and operate a site map and keyword information as related information. Providing a site map with keywords is a new technique for visualizing and navigating Web sites. It displays both a Web site's structure and keyword information on a site map and displays the relation between them. This technique not only allows both sets of information to be visualized on the same screen, but also makes it possible to interact with one through the other: a user can interact with a Web site's structure through its keyword information, and vice versa.