Column Organization of Content

Abstract

Column organization of content is described. In an implementation, a mobile communications device configures a user interface to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns that permits navigation between first and second said columns upon detection of a gesture input via a touchscreen of the mobile communications device. The user interface is displayed on a display device of the mobile communications device. The first column is configured for vertical navigation through each of the plurality of representations and the second column includes a filtered subset of the plurality of representations such that at least one of the representations is included in the first column and not the second column.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 120 as a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/469,419, filed May 20, 2009 which claims priority to 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Applications Nos. 61/107,945, 61/107,935, and 61/107,921, each of which was filed on Oct. 23, 2008, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication devices (e.g., wireless phones) have become an integral part of everyday life. However, the form factor employed by conventional mobile communications devices is typically limited to promote mobility of the mobile communications device.

For example, the mobile communications device may have a relatively limited amount of display area when compared to a conventional desktop computer, e.g., a PC. In another example, the mobile communications device may have limited input functionality (e.g., a keyboard having a reduced size) when compared with a conventional desktop computer. Therefore, conventional techniques used to interact with a desktop computer may be inefficient when employed by a mobile communications device.

SUMMARY

Column organization of content is described. In an implementation, a mobile communications device configures a user interface to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns that permits navigation between first and second said columns upon detection of a gesture input via a touchscreen of the mobile communications device. The user interface is displayed on a display device of the mobile communications device. The first column is configured for vertical navigation through each of the plurality of representations and the second column includes a filtered subset of the plurality of representations such that at least one of the representations is included in the first column and not the second column.

In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a display device and one or more modules to display representations of content in a first column on the display device as separated by a space from a concurrent display of partial representations of content in a second column. If a gesture is detected via touchscreen functionality of the display device that involves interaction with the space, representations of content in the second column are displayed concurrently with partial representations of content in the first column.

In an implementation, one or more computer-readable media include instructions that are executable by a mobile communications device to configure representations of contacts in a first column to have a font size that is larger than a font size of representations of contacts in the second column. If a pan gesture is detected by the mobile communications device, the representations in the first and second columns are displayed as having a matching font size.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in different instances in the description and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation of a mobile communications device in accordance with one or more embodiments of devices, features, and systems for mobile communications.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system in an example implementation in which detection of a gesture is used to navigate between first and second columns in a user interface of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a system in an example implementation in which the second column of the user interface that was selected through interaction with a space by a gesture of FIG. 2 is output in the user interface.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example system in which representations of content in a plurality of columns are displayed as having a matching font size in response to detection of a gesture of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a user interface is configured to include a plurality of representations displayed in columns, at least one of which includes a filtered subset of representations.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a gesture that involves interaction with a space is used to navigate between columns of representations.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which representations are displayed as having a matching font size in response to detection of a pan gesture.

FIG. 8 illustrates various components of an example device that can be implemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobile device to implement embodiments of devices, features, and systems for mobile communications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

Users sometimes desire access to related sets of content, such as family pictures, pictures taken in a particular date range (e.g., of a trip), and so on. However, in a traditional hub-and-spoke system that is used to organize content, navigation is typically performed to an item of content and then “back out” to get to another item of content. This may be inefficient and result in user frustration especially when performing this navigation on devices that have a limited amount of display area, such as a mobile communications device.

Column organization of content is described. In an implementation, representations of content are arranged in vertical columns that are accessible “next to each other” along a horizontal axis. Therefore, a user may scroll through representations of content vertically in each of the columns and navigate horizontally between the columns. Further, the columns may be configured in the user interface to include a space (e.g., a “gutter”) between the columns. Selection of the space via a gesture (e.g., a tap on a touchscreen) may cause the next column to be displayed. Therefore, navigation may be performed between the columns without adding chrome (e.g., a display of a button) to the user interface, further discussion of which may be found in relation to FIGS. 2-3.

Additionally, the columns may be configured in a variety of ways. For example, filtering may be employed to separate the representations into groups. A first column, for instance, may include each contact from a user's contact list. A second column may include contacts for a social network, while a third column may include contacts for instant messaging. Thus, filtering may be used such that a user may navigate through successive columns of content that is filtered according to different criteria to locate content of interest. Further discussion of filtering may be found in relation to FIG. 5.

In the following discussion, a variety of example implementations of a mobile communications device (e.g., a wireless phone) are described. Additionally, a variety of different functionality that may be employed by the mobile communications device is described for each example, which may be implemented in that example as well as in other described examples. Accordingly, example implementations are illustrated of a few of a variety of contemplated implementations. Further, although a mobile communications device having one or more modules that are configured to provide telephonic functionality are described, a variety of other mobile devices are also contemplated, such as personal digital assistants, mobile music players, dedicated messaging devices, portable game devices, netbooks, and so on.

Example Implementations

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation 100 of a mobile communications device 102 in accordance with one or more embodiments of devices, features, and systems for mobile communications. The mobile communications device 102 is operable to assume a plurality of configurations, examples of which include a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 1 in which the mobile communications device 102 is “open” and a configuration in which the mobile communications device 102 is “closed” as illustrated in FIGS. 2-4.

The mobile communications device 102 is further illustrated as including a first housing 104 and a second housing 106 that are connected via a slide 108 such that the first and second housings 104, 106 may move (e.g., slide) in relation to one another. Although sliding is described, it should be readily apparent that a variety of other movement techniques are also contemplated, e.g., a pivot, a hinge and so on. Additionally, configurations are also contemplated in which movement is not performed, such as a “brick” configuration.

The first housing 104 includes a display device 110 that may be used to output a variety of data, such as a caller identification (ID), representations of content (e.g., contacts) as illustrated, email, multimedia messages, Internet browsing, game play, music, video and so on. In an implementation, the display device 110 may also be configured to function as an input device by incorporating touchscreen functionality, e.g., through capacitive, surface acoustic wave, resistive, optical, strain gauge, dispersive signals, acoustic pulse, and other touchscreen functionality.

The second housing 106 is illustrated as including a keyboard 112 that may be used to provide inputs to the mobile communications device 102. Although the keyboard 112 is illustrated as a QWERTY keyboard, a variety of other examples are also contemplated, such as a keyboard that follows a traditional telephone keypad layout (e.g., a twelve key numeric pad found on basic telephones), keyboards configured for other languages (e.g., Cyrillic), and so on.

In the “open” configuration as illustrated in the example implementation 100 of FIG. 1, the first housing 104 is moved (e.g., slid) “away” from the second housing 106 using the slide 108. In this example configuration, at least a majority of the keys of the keyboard 112 (i.e., the physical keys) is exposed such that the exposed keys are available for use to provide inputs. The open configuration results in an extended form factor of the mobile communications device 102 as contrasted with the form factor of the mobile communications device 102 in the closed configuration of FIGS. 2-4. In an implementation, the planes of the first and second housings 104, 106 that are used to define the extended form factor are parallel to each other. Other implementations are also contemplated, such as a “clamshell” configuration, “brick” configuration, and so on.

The form factor employed by the mobile communications device 102 may be suitable to support a wide variety of features. For example, the keyboard 112 is illustrated as supporting a QWERTY configuration. This form factor may be particularly convenient to a user to utilize the previously described functionality of the mobile communications device 102, such as to compose texts, play games, check email, “surf” the Internet, provide status messages for a social network, and so on.

The mobile communications device 102 is also illustrated as including a communication module 114. The communication module 114 is representative of functionality of the mobile communications device 102 to communicate via a network 116. For example, the communication module 114 may include telephone functionality to make and receive telephone calls. The communication module 114 may also include a variety of other functionality, such as to form short message service (SMS) text messages, multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages, emails, status messages for a social network, and so on. A user, for instance, may input a status message for communication via the network 116 to a social network website. The social network website may then publish the status message to “friends” of the user, e.g., for receipt by the friends via a computer, respective mobile communications device, and so on. A variety of other examples are also contemplated, such as blogging, instant messaging, and so on.

The mobile communications device 102 is also illustrated as including a user interface module 118. The user interface module 118 is representative of functionality of the mobile communications device 102 to generate, manage, and/or output a user interface 120 for display on the display device 110. A variety of different techniques may be employed to generate the user interface 120.

For example, the user interface module 118 may configure the user interface 120 to arrange representations of content into vertical columns, an example of which is shown by first and second columns 122, 124 in the user interface 120. Thus, a user may scroll vertically through the first column 122 to locate a representation of interest, which in this instance is a contact from an “All Contacts” column.

The user interface module 118 may also employ one or more filters 126 to filter representations that are included in one or more of the columns. For instance, in some applications there may exist subsets of content that may be used to quickly identify the representations in that subset. By navigating between the subsets, a user may first identify a subset that is likely to contain the content of interest and then navigate through the reduced subset of representations.

Continuing with the previous example, the first column 122 includes representations of each contact included in a user's contacts list, e.g., which may be stored on the mobile communications device 102. The second column 124 may then contain a subset of contacts that correspond to a criteria used to filter the contacts, such as contacts that belong to a social network. Filtering may be continued for subsequent columns, such as for contacts that support text messaging, include email addresses, have phone numbers (e.g., a telephone book), identified as business contacts (e.g., business phone numbers and addresses), and so on. Thus, navigation may be performed horizontally through the user interface through different column for subsets of content to locate content of interest.

In the illustrated implementation of the user interface 120 of FIG. 1, complete representations are illustrated for the first column 122 and partial representations are illustrated for the second column 124. For instance, the representations in the first column 122 are displayed having their full width while the partial representations of the second column 124 are truncated at an edge of the display device 120 and thus display a partial width in the user interface 120. Using this technique, a user is readily made aware as to the availability of the second column 124 “to the right” of the first column 122 in the user interface 120 without consuming a significant portion of the available display area of the display device 110. Navigation may be performed to the second column 124 in a variety of ways, further discussion of which may be found in relation to the following figure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 in an example implementation in which detection of a gesture is used to navigate between first and second columns 122, 124 in the user interface 120. The mobile communications device 102 is illustrated as displaying a user interface 120 on the display device 110, which includes the full width of representations in the first column 122 and partial representations in the second column 124 as previously illustrated in FIG. 1. However, the entire width the representations of the second column 124 and a third column 202 are illustrated in phantom “off” the display device 110 to give context as to an arrangement of the first, second, and third columns 122, 124, 202 in the user interface 120.

The first and second columns 122, 124 (and more particularly representations included in the respective columns) are illustrated as separated by a space 204. Likewise, the second and third columns 124, 202 are also illustrated as separated by a space 206. In the illustrated implementation, the space 204 is configured for use in chromeless navigation between the first and second columns 122, 124. Likewise, space 206 is configured for use in navigation between the second and third columns 124, 202.

In an implementation, the user interface module 118 is configured to detect a gesture input via touchscreen functionality of the display device 110. For example, a finger of a user's hand 208 may tap the space 204 between the first and second columns 122, 124. Upon detection of this gesture (the tap), the user interface module 118 causes the second column 124 to be displayed in the user interface 120, an example of which is shown in the following figure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system 300 in an example implementation in which the second column 124 that was selected through interaction with the space 204 by the gesture of FIG. 2 is output in the user interface 120. The user interface 120 includes the first, second, and third columns 122, 124, 202 of FIG. 2. In this instance, however, the second column 124 is displayed on the display device 110 as having one or more representations that are displayed in their entirety, e.g., has a full width for representations even though each of the representations in the column might not be displayed concurrently (e.g., for vertical scrolling). The first and third columns 124, 202 are displayed with partial representations to indicate “where” the respective columns are located in relation to the second column 124. Thus, a user may readily ascertain “where” the first and third columns 124, 202 are positioned in relation to the second column 124.

In FIG. 3, like FIG. 2, the column that is in “focus” (e.g., the second column 124 in FIG. 3 and the first column 122 in FIGS. 1 and 2) is displayed as having representations that have a greater height than representations in columns that are not displayed in their entirety, i.e., partial representations of the second column 124 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the first and third columns 122, 202 of FIG. 3. For example, the representations of the second column 124 are displayed as having a greater font size than the font size of the representations of the first and third columns 122, 202. Additionally, the representations of the first column 122 are illustrated as being realigned (e.g., text of the representations is right justified in FIG. 3 as opposed to left justified in FIGS. 1 and 2) to aid in the descriptions provided by the respective representations. It should be readily apparent, however, that such realignment may not be performed in a variety of instances, such as to conserve processing and/or display resources.

Therefore, in addition to the truncation of the representations of the first and third columns to show “where” the columns are located in relation to the second column 124, the first and third columns 122, 202 are also displayed with a reduced height such that a lesser amount of display area of the display device 110 is consumed by those columns. Thus, this technique may also help to increase focus given to the second column 124 being displayed yet still provide an awareness of “where” the user is located in the user interface 120.

A user may continue to navigate through the columns by selecting successive spaces to the “right” in this example to navigate to respective columns, e.g., space 206 to navigate to the third column 202 and so on. Additionally, the user may navigate “back” through the columns by selecting spaces to the left of the currently displayed column (e.g., space 204 to the left of the second column 124) in the user interface 120 in this example. In some instances, however, the user may wish to quickly scroll through the columns without interacting with each of the spaces. This navigation may be performed in a variety of ways.

For example, the user's hand 208 may make a pan gesture by placing a finger on the display device 110 and moving the finger to the left and/or right in this example, although other examples are also contemplated. Touchscreen functionality of the display device 110 (or other device such as a track pad) may then be used to communicate data to the user interface module 118 that describes this gesture. In response, the user interface module 118 may configure the user interface 120 to assume a mode in which representations of content are displayed in a matching size, e.g., the font size of the representations of the content matches between columns. Additionally, the user interface module 118 may configure identifiers of the columns to have an increased size such that a user may navigate through the columns in a quicker manner to locate a column of interest, further discussion of which may be found in relation to the following figure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example system 400 in which representations of content in a plurality of columns are displayed as having a matching font size in response to detection of a gesture of FIG. 3. In this example system 400, the first, second, and third columns 122, 124, 202 are configured to have a matching font size. For example, the font size of the columns located “off” the display device 110 may be configured to match the column that is in focus. Additionally, identifiers of each of the columns (e.g., “All Contacts” for the first column 122, “Social Network” for the second column 124, and “Phone Book” for the third column 202) may have an increased size (e.g., a larger font size) to improve legibility.

When in this mode the columns may be panned to locate a particular column of interest. Selecting the column (e.g., tapping on the identifier and/or representations in the column) may cause the user interface module 118 to display the selected column “in focus” as shown for the first column 122 in FIG. 1 and the second column 124 in FIGS. 2 and 3. In an implementation, when in this “zoomed out” mode the columns may be navigated by a pan gesture and/or selecting the space as previously described in relation to FIG. 2. Further, in an implementation the representations in the columns are not selectable in and of themselves to navigate to corresponding content. Rather, focus is first given to the column through the first selection, which may then permit selection of a particular column. It should be readily apparent that other implementations are also contemplated without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, such to enable selection of representations in both modes.

Example Procedures

The following discussion describes user interface techniques that may be implemented utilizing the previously described systems and devices. Aspects of each of the procedures may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. The procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one or more devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. In portions of the following discussion, reference will be made to the environment 100 and systems 200-400 of FIGS. 1-4, respectively.

FIG. 5 depicts a procedure 500 in an example implementation in which a user interface is configured to include a plurality of representations for display in columns, at least one of which includes a filtered subset of representations. A user interface is configured to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns that permit navigation between first and second columns upon detection of a gesture input via a touchscreen of the mobile communications device (block 502). For example, a user may “tap” the space 204 between the first and second columns 122, 124 to navigate to the second column 124.

The user interface is displayed on a display device of the mobile communications device in which the first column is configured for vertical navigation through each of the plurality of representations and the second column includes a filtered subset of the plurality of representations such that at least one representation is included in the first column and not the second column (block 504). For example, a pan gesture may involve placing a finger of the user's hand 208 on a surface of the display device 110 and dragging the finger across the surface. The user interface module 118 may then detect this gesture and cause the user interface 120 to move in a direction that follows the movement of the finger. Therefore, a pan gesture that involves dragging the finger of the user's hand 208 “up” in the illustrated system 200 to cause representations included in a column “below” a current view to be displayed.

FIG. 6 depicts a procedure 600 in an example implementation in which a gesture that involves interaction with a space is used to navigate between columns of representations. Representations of content are displayed in a first column on a display device as separated by a space from a concurrent display of partial representation of content in a second column (block 602). As described previously in relation to FIG. 2, for instance, the spaces 204, 206 may be used to separate representations of content in the first, second, and third columns 122, 124, 202.

If a gesture is detected via touchscreen functionality of the display device that involves interaction with the space, representations of content in the second column are displayed concurrently with partial representations of content in the first column (block 604). Like above, a user may “tap” the space 204 between the first and second columns 122, 124 to navigate to the second column 124.

If a pan gesture is detected by the one or more modules via touchscreen functionality, the representations in the first and second columns are displayed as having a matching font size (block 606). For example, a horizontal pan gesture may be detected that involves dragging a finger of the user's hand 208 horizontally across the display device. When this gesture is detected, the representations may be displayed as having substantially similar sizes, an example of which may be found in relation to FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 depicts a procedure 700 in an example implementation in which representations are displayed as having a matching font size in response to detection of a pan gesture. Representations of contacts are configured in a first column to have a font size that is larger than a font size of representations of contacts in a second column (block 702). As shown in FIG. 1, for instance, the font size of representations in the first column 122 is larger than the font size of representations in the second column 124.

If a pan gesture is detected by the mobile communications device, display the representations in the first and second columns as having a matching font size (block 704). An example of this is shown in FIG. 4 in which the representations of content (contacts in this instance) have a matching font size.

Example Device

FIG. 8 illustrates various components of an example device 800 that can be implemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobile device to implement embodiments of devices, features, and systems for mobile communications. For example, device 800 can be implemented as any of the mobile communications devices 102 described with reference to respective FIGS. 1-4. Device 800 can also be implemented to access a network-based service, such as a social network service.

Device 800 includes an input 802 that may include Internet Protocol (IP) inputs as well as other input devices, such as the keyboard 112 of FIG. 1. Device 800 further includes a communication interface 804 that can be implemented as any one or more of a wireless interface, any type of network interface, and as any other type of communication interface. A network interface provides a connection between device 800 and a communication network by which other electronic and computing devices can communicate data with device 800. A wireless interface enables device 800 to operate as a mobile device for wireless communications.

Device 800 also includes one or more processors 806 (e.g., any of microprocessors, controllers, and the like) which process various computer-executable instructions to control the operation of device 800 and to communicate with other electronic devices. Device 800 can be implemented with computer-readable media 808, such as one or more memory components, examples of which include random access memory (RAM) and non-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.).

Computer-readable media 808 provides data storage to store content and data 810, as well as device applications and any other types of information and/or data related to operational aspects of device 800. For example, an operating system 812 can be maintained as a computer application with the computer-readable media 808 and executed on processor(s) 806. Device applications can also include a communication manager module 814 (which may be used to provide telephonic functionality) and a media manager 816.

Device 800 also includes an audio and/or video output 818 that provides audio and/or video data to an audio rendering and/or display system 820. The audio rendering and/or display system 820 can be implemented as integrated components of the example device 800, and can include any components that process, display, and/or otherwise render audio, video, and image data. Device 800 can also be implemented to provide a user tactile feedback, such as vibrate and haptics.

Generally, the blocks may be representative of modules that are configured to provide represented functionality. Further, any of the functions described herein can be implemented using software, firmware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manual processing, or a combination of these implementations. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and “logic” as used herein generally represent software, firmware, hardware or a combination thereof. In the case of a software implementation, the module, functionality, or logic represents program code that performs specified tasks when executed on a processor (e.g., CPU or CPUs). The program code can be stored in one or more computer readable memory devices. The features of the techniques described above are platform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented on a variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety of processors.

CONCLUSION

Although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed invention.

Claims

1.-20. (canceled)

21. A mobile device comprising:

a display device; and

one or more modules implemented at least partially in hardware using a processor and memory to: configure a user interface to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns, the plurality of columns individually separated by a space that permits navigation between the plurality of columns upon detection of a gesture input via interaction with the display device; and display the user interface on the display device with the plurality of columns configured for horizontal navigation through each of the plurality of columns.

22. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein data content for the plurality of representations of content is derived from at least one of a telephone functionality, a short message service (SMS) text messages, multimedia messaging service (MMS), email, status messages for a social network, instant messaging, blog posts, Internet browsing, game play, music, video, pictures, personal digital assistants, or contact lists.

23. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the displaying is performed such that:

an entire width of a first column of the plurality of columns is displayed on the display device; and

a portion of a width of a second column of the plurality of columns is displayed concurrently on the display device with the first column.

24. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the detected gesture includes interaction with the plurality of columns to scroll horizontally between the plurality of columns.

25. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the detected gesture includes interaction with the plurality of columns to scroll vertically through the representations of content arranged according to the plurality of columns.

26. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the detected gesture includes interaction with a representation of content of an individual column to select the individual column of the plurality of columns, and wherein the selection of the individual column modifies a display appearance of the selected individual column on the display device.

27. The mobile device of claim 26, wherein the one or more modules modify the display appearance of the selected individual column to bring the selected individual column in focus.

28. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the one or more modules further configure the plurality of columns for vertical navigation of the plurality of representations of content within the plurality of columns.

29. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the navigation is chromeless.

30. A method implemented on at least one processor, the method comprising:

configuring a user interface to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns that permits navigation between the plurality of columns upon detection of a gesture input via interaction with the user interface on a display device, the configuring performed by one or more modules implemented on the at least one processor; and

rendering the user interface on the display device with the plurality of columns configured for horizontal navigation through each of the plurality of columns.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

rendering an entire width of a first column of the plurality of columns for display on the display device; and

rendering a portion of a width of a second column of the plurality of columns for concurrent display with the first column on the display device.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

detecting the gesture input via interaction with the user interface on the display device, including detecting interaction with the plurality of columns; and

responsive to detecting the interaction with the plurality of columns, permitting navigation between the plurality of columns.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

detecting the gesture input via interaction with the user interface on the display device, including detecting a pan gesture; and

responsive to detecting the pan gesture, permitting navigation through the plurality of columns.

34. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

detecting the gesture input via interaction with the user interface on the display device, including detecting an interaction with a representation of content of an individual column;

identifying the interaction with the representation of content of the individual column as a selection of the individual column; and

responsive to the identified selection of the individual column, modifying a display appearance of the selected individual column on the display device.

35. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

rendering a complete representation of content of an individual column of the plurality of columns for display on the display device; and

rendering one or more partial representations of content of one or more other columns of the plurality of columns for concurrent display with the complete representation of content of the individual column.

36. A mobile communications device comprising:

a display device; and

one or more modules implemented at least partially in hardware using a processor and memory to: configure a user interface to include a plurality of representations of content arranged according to a plurality of columns, that permits navigation between first and second said columns upon detection of a gesture input via a touchscreen of the display device the mobile communications device; and display the user interface on the display device of the mobile communications device in which: the plurality of columns is configured for vertical navigation through each of the plurality of representations of content.

37. The mobile communications device of claim 36, wherein the displaying is performed such that:

an entire width of a first column of the plurality of columns is displayed on the display device; and

a portion of a width of a second column of the plurality of columns is displayed concurrently on the display device with the first column.

38. The mobile communications device of claim 36, wherein the plurality of columns are further configured for horizontal navigation through each of the plurality of columns.

39. The mobile communications device of claim 36, wherein the detected gesture includes interaction with a representation of content of an individual column to select the individual column of the plurality of columns, and wherein the selection of the individual column modifies a display appearance of the selected individual column on the display device.

40. The mobile communications device of claim 39, wherein the one or more modules modify the display appearance of the selected individual column to bring the selected individual column in focus.