Chapter 6: User Interfaces for Mobile Media 257 downloaded, with similar search result sets in order to fi ne-tune the computed relevant values (Lehikoinen et al. 2006). In general, browsing can be considered a single task, but it is often the fi rst step towards further GEMS operations. If the user knows the location of an object, they can simply move through a navigation path to access it. The navigation path depends on the object’s location, for instance, whether the object is stored locally or remotely, and how the objects are organized. In browsing, the fundamental design decision deals with defi ning what objects are presented to the user in some meaningful way that best supports the user’s goal. What is required for the UI in content browsing? First, we need to select the objects that are presented to the user. In fi le management, this means showing the content of a folder or folders. However, with the power of the metadata we are not tied to folder structure, but free to use more sophisticated methods for this purpose, such as associa- tions, relations, and dynamic user-defi ned queries. The selection of the presentation modality and technique, as well as interaction technique, is tightly coupled. In addition, it is imperative to consider various factors that affect their selection, in order to provide a best possible solution that is benefi cial to the user’s current task and context. Earlier, we discussed list- and grid-based presentation. Now, we introduce a few concepts and discuss two fundamental issues related to browsing: maximizing the amount of the content displayed on the screen, and modifying the view. Media Tray (Hakala et al. 2005b) photo browsing application attempts to maximize the amount of content displayed on the screen, by hiding and making transparent the UI controls that are not required. Furthermore, it compresses the content into a more condensed form, by slanting the view and overlapping the objects slightly (Figure 6-29). During browsing, it may be necessary to change the way the objects are presented in the view. This may include changing the way the content is organized, or even changing the presentation technique. As the Media Tray is designed for personal visual content, organizing the content based on time is important as the various events where the content is captured are related to certain dates. Consequently, the application provides a time bar at the top of the screen to fi lter and control the time span and thus the amount of content on the tray. The time bar consists of two rows; the fi rst row presents the time span (a day, week, month, or year) within which images on the tray area are displayed, and the second row will change according to the fi rst row selection. For instance, if “Month” is selected, the second row shows the month names (Hakala et al. 2005b).