This is a navigation prototype intended for a never released version of reefscape.net. The intention was to visually build a filter that selects designs from a database.
To show the results the ENTRY element must be connected to the SHOW RESULTS element either directly or throught different filters. Lines can be made by dragging them from a + symbol. A line can be dropped on another + symbol making a connection.
For example connecting ENTRY with 'Select type'. Then a connection can be made from 'personal' to SHOW RESULTS showing all the personal designs in the database. But other filters can be added in between. For example showing all the personal photograhy projects from 2001.
By involving the user in connecting the elements it creates a different user experience than simply using checkboxes and such. And once the concept is understood it scales well to more complex situations. It would even be possible to overlay various filters by using different colours or linestyles.
However the interface takes up quite a bit of space and might confuse the casual user. Making it not suitable for many applications.
The version displayed here is not connected to a database and therefore only shows the created filter in the trace but no results.