A method and apparatus for quickly expanding a compressed list of items on a display system are provided. The method entails displaying the compressed list of items and expanding the displayed compressed list of items by displaying a non-displayed item halfway between two displayed items when a pointer touches the two displayed items. If the pointer only touches one displayed item, a non-displayed item halfway between the displayed item touched and the displayed item immediately above as well as that immediately below the displayed item touched will be displayed. If, on the other hand, the pointer touches three displayed items, a non-displayed item halfway between each pair of the three displayed items touched will be displayed.