eValid™ -- The Web Quality Suite Browser-Based Client-Side Functional Testing and Validation Page Timing/Tuning Transaction Monitoring. WebSite Spidering & Analysis and Realistic Server Loading.

Introduction
eValid's patented 3D-SiteMap diagrams make it very easy to gain a deep understanding of how a WebSite is constructed. It becomes remarkably easy way to learn about website structure and about the interdependence of URLs. 3D-SiteMap pictures are used to:

• Find which URLs are the focus of dependence (have a lot of parents): a problem on such a URL may have many ramifications.
• Find which URLs are sources of dependence (have a lot of children): a problem on such a URL may invalidate dependent URLs.
• Find all URLs that are related to any particular URL.
• Locate unwanted or unnecessary dependencies: you many not want as many links as there are.
• Help decide URL to focus detailed testing attention on next: The most central URLs, with the most dependencies, have the greatest impact on quality because they are likely used most.
• Help identify Good and Bad WebSites.

Example 3D-SiteMap [Dynamic Example]
Here is a sample 3D-SiteMap picture. Note that the picture is for all mapped URLs. Remember, to eValid a URL could be both a full page (e.g. *.html), or a page component (e.g. *.gif).

Click Below For Sample Dynamic 3D-SiteMap

Mouse Control of Image
The mouse controls your view of the image. You can select horizontal and vertical scaling and sizing, and command secondary pictures that picture various URL information in the picture.

• URL Color Explanations. The color of the URL box in the reflects the nature of the URL, as discovered in the eValid site analysis that produced the data shown in the 3D-SiteMap picture.
  • Green. Green is used for the root of picture. The name of the root is shown in the lower left of the picture.
  • Red. Red is used for parents of the root URL, and parents of those parents, etc.
  • Blue. Blue is used for children of the root URL, and children of those children, etc.
  • Magenta. In websites a URL can be self-referential or references can be circular. Hence, a URL can be its own parent or child. Magenta is used for a URL found to be both a parent and a child.
  • Yellow. Yellow is used for URLs found broken or unavailable during the scan.

• Hover on Node. If you hover your mouse over any URL you will see a picture that gives all of the details about the URL, like that in the sample below. In addition, direct connections (one-step connections) from that URL to all of its parents and children are highlighted, and all of the rest of the picture is grayed out.
  

  The picture shows the complete URL, the number of parents, the number of children, the total size of the URL, the download time the URL took during the scan, and the current depth (relative to the root) in the current 3D-SiteMap picture.

• Left Click on Empty Area of the Display. This action will restore the picture if you currently have hovered on an URL to highlight dependencies.

• Right Click on Empty Area of the Display. Brings up the Display Annotation Options section (see below).

• Left Button Down. Movement with the left button held down controls orientation of the picture.
  • Vertical Movement. Controls rotation around the horizontal axis.
  • Horizontal Movement. Controls rotation around the vertical axis.
  • Combined Movement (Both Buttons Down). The picture tracks the combination of both motions.

• Right Button Down. Movement with the right button held down controls the scale of picture and the size of the boxes representing URLs.
  • Vertical Movement. The picture zooms in and zooms out. Upward movement is for a larger picture. Downward movement is smaller picture.
  • Horizontal Movement. The size of URLs on the picture changes. Rightward movement is for a larger URL box. Leftward movement is for a smaller URL box.
  • Combined Movement (Both Buttons Down). The picture tracks the combination of both motions.

• Left+Right Button Down (Both Buttons Down). With both buttons held down the entire current picture is moved to a new location on the display. Note that the movement tracks the actual mouse movement.

• Left Click on Node. Recreates the 3D-SiteMap picture with this node as root in the current window. (If this is already the root there is no change.)

• Right Click on Node. See the diagram above, which shows the options when you right-click on an URL in the picture. You have two options:
  • View Root Item in New Window. Recreates the 3D-SiteMap picture with this node as the root in a new window (and saves the prior picture).
  • Open URL in Browser. Shows the actual URL contents by picturing it in a new window.

Display Annotation Options
The current picture can be annotated in a variety of ways using the picture annotation options. You can activate these options with a right click anywhere in the blank area of the picture. This will bring up an optional selection menu:

• Inclusions...
  The 3D-SiteMap picture shows every URL that the site analysis process analyzed. You can simplify the picture by choosing to include/exclude URLs on the picture based on the type of tag that gave rise to them (e.g. an anchor tag), or based on the URL extension (e.g. *.gif).
  
  • Include Tags. This controls which tags to show in the picture. You're shown a list of the tags used in the original picture. Click on the list to make changes. Additions and deletions you choose take effect in the current 3D-SiteMap picture only after clicking the Apply Changes option (see below).
  • Include Extensions. This controls which URL extensions to show in the picture. You're shown a list of the URL extensions used in the original picture. Click on the list to make changes. Additions and deletions you choose take effect in the picture only after clicking Apply Changes.
  • Apply Changes. The chart is redrawn using only the activated suffixes and URL extensions you've selected.

• URL Height...
  This option lets you adjust the height of each URL box according to chosen parameters. In all cases the boxes are shown this way:
  1. Double Height if the factor is 25% above the average value.
  2. Normal Height if the factor is within 25% of the average value.
  3. Half Height if the factor is 25% below the average value.
  

  The factors that can be used to annotate the picture in this way are the following:

  • Download Time. The amount of time the URL took to download. (Note that this time value is affected by the type of search done and the properties of your web connection.)
  • Byte Count. The total bytes downloaded for this URL. (This is affected by the type of search done.)
  • Incoming Links. The number of inbound links to this URL.
  • Outgoing Links. The number of outbound links to this URL.
  • Total Links. The total number of links (inbound + outbound) relative to this URL
  • Use Default. This selection returns the URL height factor to the normal (non-annotated) form.

• Sticky Notes...
  This option controls various kinds of "sticky notes" that can be affixed to the picture and to the URLs
  
  • Base Page. Shows current base page (root node) on the picture.
  • SiteMap Info. Shows the current 3D-SiteMap details on the picture.
  • Usage. Shows a short mouse usage detail message on the picture.
  • URLs... Specifies the content of sticky notes that are affixed to each URL/node in the picture. These annotations track the URLs through all of the regular motions. Some experimentation may be needed to see all of the information.
    • Complete. This selection shows the full URL for the node.
    • Stripped. This shows only the last part of the URL for the node.
    • None.

• Depth Limit...
  This option controls how much of the 3D-SiteMap you want to see. In many cases the 3D-SiteMap can be so large it is difficult to make sense of it. You can focus a particular part of a website that you're interested in or you can control the depth of the picture. In this picture URLs are shown at their natural depth relative to the picture's root.
  
  • Parent. You can select the depth you wish to picture, including All (the default).
  • Child. You can select the depth you wish to picture, including All (the default).

• Reset...
  This option returns the picture to the original condition and cancels all options.

• Show Only Immediate Family...
  This option can be toggled ON/OFF. If ON (checked) the picture shows ONLY those URLs that are immediate children and/or parents of the root node. If OFF, then the picture is the complete tree.

• Documentation...
  Pops up the documentation page for the eValid 3D-SiteMap.

Problems, Limitations
You should be viewing the 3D-SiteMap pictures from either the eValid browser or from IE 5.50 or later. The 3D-SiteMaps do not work correctly in Netscape: not all of the mouse controls are operational.