Alpha Slider: Searching Textual Lists with Sliders

Abstract

AlphaSlider is a query interface that uses a direct manipulation slider to select words, phrases, or names from an existing list. This paper introduces a prototype of AlphaSlider, describes the design issues, reports on an experimental evaluation, and offers directions for further research. The experiment tested 24 subjects selecting items from lists of 40, 80, 160, and 320 entries. Mean selection times only doubled with the 8-fold increase in list length. Users quickly accommodated to this selection method.