You are probably thinking of Jef Raskin's ideas for zoomable interfaces, as described in "The Humane Interface" and seen in various demos he produced. A lot of

You are probably thinking of Jef Raskin's ideas for zoomable interfaces, as described in "The Humane Interface" and seen in various demos he produced. A lot of people (chief among them, Microsoft with projects like Seadragon) have been rediscovering this as a useful idea.