Web page authoring tool for structured documents

• US 20060248442A1
• Filed: 04/29/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Boodman, Aaron, Rosenstein, Justin M., Irani, Lilly Christine, Vafai, Ojan, Levine, Dana A., Jeske, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,536,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A web page is composed using a browser that displays an authoring web page containing an authoring tool embedded in the authoring web page. The authoring web page, as displayed in a browser window, includes a web page editing region that displays a web page under construction. The web page editing region further includes one or more user-specified instances of structured fields, each instance responsible for hosting content entered directly by the web page author through the browser window or identified by the web page authoring using the authoring tool. A composed web page is published, for example on the Internet. Thereafter, the composed web page can be rendered in a browser window of any client computer or device in a style consistent with the user-entered content in the web page editing region.

Claims

1. A method for composing a web page, comprising:

displaying a first browser window to a user, the first browser window including one or more user-specified instances of structured fields;

allowing the user to compose a web page in the first browser window by entering content into the user-specified instances of structured fields; and

displaying the composed web page in a second browser window in a manner consistent with the user-entered content in the first browser window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of the user-specified instances of structured fields in the first browser window corresponds to a geometric region of the composed web page having a visible and adjustable boundary.

3. The method of claim 2, including displaying the boundary of a user-specified instance of a structured field whose content is being edited by the user in a visually distinct manner compared with a user-specified instance of a structured field whose content is not being edited by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-specified instances of structured fields correspond to a user-specified display template.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to select a content object within a user-specified instance of a structured field;

displaying a dialog box near the content object, the dialog box including information related to the content object; and

allowing the user to modify the content object by updating the information in the dialog box.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, if the content object is an image, the dialog box lists at least one candidate image for display in the user-specified instance of a structured field.

7. The method of claim 6, including allowing the user to enter a source location for a respective candidate image in the dialog box.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to move a content object from a source location to a destination location; and

adjusting other content near the source and destination locations to accommodate the movement of the content object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the source and destination locations are within a single user-specified instance of a structured field.

10. The method of claim 8, including continuing to display the content object at the source location while displaying a replica of the content object being moved towards the destination location.

11. The method of claim 10, including displaying the replica of the content object in a visually distinct manner from the content object at the source location.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving the web page in accordance with a predefined schedule; and

providing to the user an indicator in the first browser window indicating whether the composed web page includes any changes that have not been saved.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the user comprises a first user, the method further comprising:

notifying the first user that the web page is currently being composed by a second user when the first user attempts to open the web page;

allowing the first user to deprive the second user of the right to compose the web page;

notifying the second user that the first user is composing the web page; and

providing a mechanism for the second user to recover the web page as composed by the second user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second user is notified by an email message and the email message includes a link to the web page as composed by the second user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user-specified instance of a structured field includes a heuristic instruction suggesting a type of content suitable for adding to the user-specified instance of a structured field.

16. The method of claim 15, including displaying the heuristic instruction in a manner consistent with a style associated with the user-specified instance of a structured field.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first browser window includes a mechanism allowing the user to trigger the displaying of the web page in the second browser window.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page displayed in the second browser window is non-editable.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page displayed in the second browser window is an HTML file.

20. A method for composing a web page, comprising:

displaying an authoring web page including an embedded authoring tool, the authoring tool for composing the web page;

using the authoring tool, responding to user instructions by placing instances of predefined structured fields in the composed web page and associating user-specified content with the instances of the predefined structured fields; and

displaying the composed web page in a second browser window.

21. A browser-based web page authoring tool, comprising:

a web page editor embedded in an authoring web page, the authoring web page suitable for display by a browser; and

the web page editor including a web server communication interface for communication with a remote server;

wherein the web page editor is configured to;

update a web page displayed in a first browser window of the browser in accordance with user inputs;

save the user inputs to the remote server through the web server communication interface; and

display the web page in a second browser window of the browser in a manner consistent with the web page displayed in the first browser window of the browser in response to a user instruction.

22. The web page authoring tool of claim 21, wherein the web page editor includes instructions for defining multiple user-specified fields in the first browser window of the browser, each of a plurality of the user-specified fields having a visible and adjustable boundary.

23. A client-server based web page development system, comprising:

a client computer, the client computer including a browser and a web page editor embedded in an authoring web page displayed by the browser, wherein the web page editor enables a user to compose a web page using the browser;

a server computer, the server computer including a plurality of data structures for storing information about a web page composed at the client computer using the browser and the web page editor; and

a network connecting the client computer to the server computer.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the web page editor includes instructions for defining multiple user-specified fields in a first instance of the browser, each of a plurality of the user-specified fields having a visible and adjustable boundary.