Systems, methods, and software for presenting data are described. Previously accessed data items are presented in a manner that is non-chronological relative to when the data items were accessed. The presentation optionally includes an indication of a significance of the data item with the representation.

Here's Apple's background on the invention: "The World Wide Web, which is a collection of interconnected and cross-linked web pages located on computers, has become an important source of information. Users employ applications known as Web browsers ("browsers") to access these web pages. Since users frequently access the same web pages repeatedly (especially web pages that the user has recently viewed), most browsers keep track of the web pages that the user has previously accessed using a history list. Previous browsers have used a history list that tracks previously accessed web pages in the order of the time that the web pages were viewed (referred to as a chronological order). Although, in some of the previous web browsers, a web page is listed once in a history list even if the web page was viewed more than once. In these web browsers, web pages that are viewed more than once typically appear in the history list in the order of the most recent time that the web page was viewed. Thus, chronological order as used herein means arranged in order of the time of the occurrence. Chronological order also includes arranging in order of the more recent time of occurrence when there are multiple occurrences.

"One common method for a user to navigate through the previously accessed web pages in the history list is by using forward and back buttons. For example, a user might first visit the home page of a favorite football team and then follow a link on that home page to a second page with a particular player's stats, and then follow another link on the second page to a third page containing an magazine article about the player. Subsequently, the user selects the back button on the browser twice to return to the home page of the football team instead of needing to type in the address of the home page.

"A problem with this chronological order is that users can visit a large number of web pages, which are confusing to view in a chronological order, and the forward and back buttons are an inefficient and cumbersome way to navigate through multiple web pages. Further, the problems of a chronological order are not confined to pages accessed via a web browser, but also apply when data of other types is accessed over a period of time."

And here's Apple's summary of the invention: "Systems, methods, and software for presenting data are described. Embodiments of the invention display representations of previously accessed data items in a manner other than the chronological order in which the data items were accessed and, in some embodiments, indicate with the representation the significance of one or more of the data items. Embodiments of the invention comprise one or more of the following: modules for representing previously accessed data items, modules for displaying a history of the previously accessed data items, and modules for representing the significance of data items in the history. In one embodiment the data items are web pages, but in other embodiments the data items may be files, database records, electronic mail, or any other data item capable of being accessed. "

The inventors are Don Melton and Bas Ording. The graphic below is a diagram of an example graphical user interface for a web browser history list organized by subject matter.