Mapuccino is a tool for constructing visual maps of Web sites, or more generally of any neighborhood of a given URL. Using the map, users can see the overall organization of a site and its relationship with other sites, navigate through the map, and perform various operations on (sub)maps.
Mapuccino is given as a free service for site mapping at Mapuccino's site on IBM's Java Page. Read about Mapuccino and use it for mapping Internet sites, there.
Here is an example of a map cut out from http://www.software.ibm.com. What you have below is only a screen dump (GIF) click on the real map applet to have it downloaded so that you can operate it.
The initial page specified as a URL (called the root) is marked with a "home" icon. It's descendants in the tree control view are the pages it refers to via HTML links. The pages are by default labeled with the TITLE of the document (as defined in the HTML contents of it). This can be changed to the actual link name (see Show Link as Name in the View menu)
Mapuccino lets you see the map in several ways. Here is an example of a different view: the "Tree as Circle" view, viewed through a fisheye lens. Here, the references from one page to another are shown as arrows, and the pages themselves as labeled rectangles. Sometimes, pages point back to some nodes that have already been discovered, creating backlinks represented as blue edges. These backlinks are shown by default (see BackLinks in the View menu)
Notation | Meaning | Description |
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node (Web page) | A node on the map represents a URL on the Web. By default, the label that appears on the node consists of the first few words of the page title (see View menu). |
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Clicked node | When you click on a node, it expands and shows its full title, as well as backlinks if any. |
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Selected node | Nodes can be selected (see Mouse Actions for further operations. |
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Visited node | A node whose contents has been displayed in the browser via invocation of "Show" operations (See Operations menu). |
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Directed edge | An arrow between nodes A and B indicates that document A refers to document B via a link |
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Clicked spot on edge | The actual hotlink text (as underlined) is displayed |
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Backlink | A link that points back to a previously mapped node. Shown by default (see View menu) |
Nodes are marked with different icons; here's an explanation of these icons' meanings:
Icon | Meaning | Description |
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Root | The URL initially specified to Mapuccino, where it started its search. |
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Document node | A regular document |
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Unreachable node | A node which cannot be reached. Check the "Show Information" in the Operations menu for the reason. |
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"Out of site" node | A node whose URL is out of the original site of mapping. Displayed upon request (see View menu). |
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Timed-out node | A node that Mapuccino could not reach in the given time limit. Displayed upon request (see View menu) |
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GIF | A GIF (picture). Displayed upon request (see View menu) |
Some of Mapuccino's actions can be invoked not only via its Menu but via its toolbar, on the left of the window. They are described below.
Icon | Action |
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Lay out the tree vertically |
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Lay out the tree horizontally |
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Lay out the tree as a "star", with root at center |
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Lay out the tree in a tree control view |
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Lay out the tree in a fish-eye view (toggle mode) |
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Magnify/Demagnify map (toggle button) |
The minimap panel is visible only in fisheye view. It represents a reduced view of the map and enables navigation. By dragging the mouse in the minimap the perspective is changed, and the view point of the map is changed. By moving the scrollbar at the top of the minimap, the, the distortion factor is changed.
The documents you selected will be concatenated into one document, which will be returned to your browser. You may then use the browser's "Print..." or "Save as..." options to print the file or save it locally.
Use your browser to save the contents of the top frame to a file (see detailed instructions on the top frame itself), so that you can view the map again and again. By default, any time you view the saved file with your favorite (Java enabled) browser, the Mapuccino Applet will be automatically downloaded from Mapuccino's site on IBM's Java page, and your map will be launched.
If you want to view your map off-line, it is possible to download and store the Mapuccino Applet locally. In order to do that, consult the Mapuccino form that you fill for creating the map. Follow the link for downloading and installing the applet, and check the box for using local applet, before creating the map. If you save this map, any time you view the saved file, the local Mapuccino Applet will be used.