SequoiaView is a disk browsing tool based on the principle of treemaps, with one unique feature added, namely Cushion Treemaps, invented by Jack van Wijk. The principle is simple: each time a rectangle is subdivided, ridges are added. The result is a pattern of hierarchical cushions that show the structure in the directories and files. The user can set the height of the ridges as well as using lower ridges for deeper nested levels, offering a choice between displaying global information (high level directories) or detailed info such as individual files. The user can also choose between the original cushions and the squarified cushions.
Files and directories can be selected, inspected and opened, but can not be modified directly. Users can define different color schemes to facilitate identification of certain file types or load a ready-made color scheme from disk. Files can be filtered on name, size as well as creation, modification or last access date or any combination of these.
SequoiaView was developed based on research done by the Visualization Section of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven.
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| A standard treemap with free disk space on the right |
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| Same file system displayed using cushion treemaps |
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| Coloring files of different types |
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| Cushion treemap showing less detail |
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| Different system, squarified cushion treemap. |