System and method for dynamic browser management of web site

• US 7,237,002 B1
• Filed: 01/04/2000
• Issued: 06/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Estrada, Julio, Estrada, Miguel A., Shore, Maurice E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boutah; Alina
• Application Number:
  US09/477,471
• Time in Patent Office: 2,730 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-205, 709717-719, 709217-219, 707/10, 707203-204, 715/512, 715/500, 715/513
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Collaboration space object model provides for a Place consisting of rooms. A room is made up of pages. Folders are used to organize pages. Members belong to rooms, and are those users authorized to access them. Place type controls the creation of a place, including how many rooms it has, for example. Room type controls the appearance and content of rooms. A form manages the display of data notes. A form can contain fields for containing data and employ scripts to process and compute data. A page is the basic vehicle for content. Content is created using an or importing content from an external source. A member is also a data note, and each place contains its own member directory. A place is created and managed from a client browser in on-line mode and in offline mode with respect to a replicated copy of the space. Room security is independently managed, and security and aesthetics characteristics of subrooms selectively inherited. Room navigation and workflow processing is provided, as are forms creation and uploading from browser to server.

Claims

1. A method for dynamic browser management of a collaboration space implemented as a plurality of rooms arranged in a hierarchy of rooms in a database at a server web site with a change of aesthetics for any room in said hierarchy propagated to those of its subrooms not previously modified with aesthetic changes, including the steps of:

establishing a connection from said browser to said server at said web site;

establishing each room and each subroom in said hierarchy as a separate database in a file system implementing a place in said collaboration space;

providing to said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols, a user experience for designing and modifying said web site, said user experience being an HTML formatted page rendered by a native browser application to said user with fields for entering data and action buttons including a button for submitting data to said server and producing a resulting modified HTML formatted page back to said browser;

while said browser remains connected to said web site, designing and modifying said database implementing said collaboration space at said web site directly from said browser using said HTML and HTTP protocols, including selecting aesthetics of a user interface to said room, creating a room in collaboration space and subrooms of said room which inherit said aesthetics of said room, establishing access control, and inputting files directly to said web site using drag/drop procedures at said browser; and

thereafter, upon modifying in said database at said server said aesthetics of a given room in said hierarchy of rooms, propagating modified aesthetics of said given room only to those subrooms of said given room not having had aesthetics previously explicitly modified;

said propagating including executing a hierarchical inheritance process by which a room manager selectively establishes revised common aesthetics for said user interface to said given room and its respective subrooms;

said hierarchical inheritance process including preparing revised aesthetics for said user interface of said given room, and upon opening a subroom, said subroom determining whether or not to implement said modified aesthetics of said given room or aesthetics previously explicitly defined for said subroom.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising the further step of:

initially downloading said web site from a remote server to a user workstation including said browser.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of rooms in a hierarchical structure by executing collaboration space server commands including a create room command in response to browser functions.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

responsive to selection by said user of a customize action at said browser, serving from said server a submenu for entering parameters for creating a room;

responsive to user selection of said parameters, executing server side processing, including

creating a subroom database;

updating forward pointers to said subroom from a parent room with said user designated as the manager and only user; and

serving said subroom to said browser.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

receiving from said browser actions updating subroom characteristics, and optionally actions adding other users authorized to access said subroom.

6. A system for dynamic native browser management of a database at a server implementing a collaboration space at a web site, said collaboration space implemented as a plurality of rooms arranged in a hierarchy of rooms with a change of aesthetics for any room in said hierarchy propagated to those of its subrooms not previously modified, comprising:

a browser;

a web server;

a place server;

said collaboration web site including a place including a plurality of rooms, each said room and each said subroom being a database including a plurality of pages in a file system implementing a place in said collaboration space and comprising one or more pages, for each said room a members object for identifying members authorized to access said room, and each said room having aesthetics;

said web server providing to said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols, an interactive user experience for designing and modifying said database at said web site implementing said collaboration space, said user experience being an HTML formatted page rendered by a native browser application to said user with fields for entering data and action buttons including a button for submitting data to said server and producing a resulting modified HTML formatted page back to said browser;

said browser being operable while connected to said web server for receiving from a user a user name, a place name, and a password, and responsive thereto for generating a request for creation of a collaboration place and communicating said request to said web server;

said web server being operable for receiving and forwarding said request to said place server;

said place server being operable for initializing said collaboration space as a database at said server, and for providing to said browser via said web server using HTML and HTTP protocols, a user experience for directly designing and modifying said collaboration space database from said browser using said HTML and HTTP protocols, including prompting said user for space personalization parameters for further refining collaboration space characteristics; and

responsive to user modification to said database at said collaboration space of said aesthetics, propagating modified aesthetics of said room only to those subrooms of said room not having had their subroom aesthetics previously explicitly modified;

said propagating including executing a hierarchical inheritance process by which a room manager selectively establishes revised common aesthetics for said user interface to said room and its respective subrooms;

said hierarchical inheritance process including preparing revised aesthetics for said user interface of said room and upon opening a subroom, said subroom determining whether or not to implement said modified aesthetics of said room or aesthetics previously explicitly defined for said subroom.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a default web site, said place server being further operable for initializing said collaboration space from said default web site.

8. The system of claim 6, said personalization parameters including security, rooms aesthetics, and inheritance characteristics.

9. A method for dynamic browser management of a collaboration place implemented as a database at a remote web site, including the steps of:

establishing a connection from said browser to a web server at said web site;

providing from said web server to said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols, a user experience for designing and modifying said database at said remote web site directly from said browser using said HTML and HTTP protocols, said user experience being an HTML formatted page rendered by a native browser application to said user with fields for entering data and action buttons including a button for submitting data to said server and producing a resulting modified HTML formatted page back to said browser;

responsive to user data and action selection at said browser, communicating to said web server requests with respect to said collaboration place, said requests including room aesthetics;

operating said web server to forward requests from said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols with respect to said collaboration place to a place server; and

operating said place server via said web server while directly connected to said browser responsive to said requests for managing from said browser said collaboration place as a hierarchical collection of databases in a file system with only child databases not having had their aesthetics explicitly modified inheriting modified aesthetics from their respective parent databases, said collection of databases including a main room database and a members database with forward pointers connecting databases in said hierarchical collection including room name, address to database name, and a readers field specifying access authority;

said inheriting including executing a hierarchical inheritance process by which a room manager selectively establishes revised common aesthetics for said user interface to said room and its respective subrooms;

said hierarchical inheritance process including preparing revised aesthetics for said user interface of said room, and upon opening a subroom, said subroom determining whether or not to implement said modified aesthetics of said room or aesthetics previously explicitly defined for said subroom.

10. The method of claim 9, said requests selectively including open document, open form, and edit document commands with respect to said collaboration place.

11. The method of claim 10, said place server responding to said commands with screen displays communicated to said browser via said web server.

12. The method of claim 9, said collaboration place including a plurality of rooms, a room type for controlling the appearance of content of said room when displayed at said browser, said room including a plurality of pages, and for each said room a members object for identifying members authorized to access said room, and folders for organizing said pages.

13. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for dynamic browser management of a database implementing a collaboration space at a remote web site, said method steps comprising:

establishing a connection from said browser to said web site;

providing to said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols, a user experience for designing and modifying said database implementing said collaboration space at said remote web site directly from said browser using said HTML and HTTP protocols, said user experience being an HTML formatted page rendered by a native browser application to said user with fields for entering data and action buttons including a button for submitting data to said server and producing a resulting modified HTML formatted page back to said browser;

while connected to said web site, designing and modifying said web site from said browser, including selecting aesthetics, creating a hierarchy of rooms in collaboration space with each room and each subroom in said hierarchy of room being a separate database including a plurality of pages in a file system implementing a place, establishing access control, and input files directly to said web site using drag/drop procedures; and

responsive to modifying aesthetics of a parent room, propagating modified aesthetics from said parent room only to those child rooms of said parent room not previously having had their respective aesthetics explicitly modified;

said propagating including executing a hierarchical inheritance process by which a room manager selectively establishes revised common aesthetics for said user interface to said parent room and its respective child rooms;

said hierarchical inheritance process including preparing revised aesthetics for said user interface of said parent room, and upon opening a child room, said child room determining whether or not to implement said modified aesthetics of said parent room or aesthetics previously explicitly defined for said child room.

14. A computer program product recorded in a computer storage medium for dynamic browser management of a web site comprising:

first program instructions for establishing a connection from said browser to said web site;

second program instructions for providing to said browser using HTML and HTTP protocols, a user experience for designing and modifying said database implementing said collaboration space at said remote web site directly from said browser using said HTML and HTTP protocols, said user experience being an HTML formatted page rendered by a native button for submitting data to said server and producing a resulting modified HTML formatted page back to said browser; and

third program instructions, while connected to said web site, for designing and modifying said web site from said browser, including selecting aesthetics for a hierarchy of viewable objects in said web site with each said object being a database in a file system implementing a place in collaboration space and with child objects of said hierarchy inheriting aesthetics of parent objects only until their aesthetics are explicitly modified, creating rooms in said collaboration space, establishing access control, and inputting files directly to said web site; and

said inheriting including executing a hierarchical inheritance process by which an object manager selectively establishes revised common aesthetics for a user interface to said parent object and its respective child objects;

said hierarchical inheritance process including preparing revised aesthetics for said user interface of said parent object, and upon opening a child object, said child object determining whether or not to implement said modified aesthetics of said parent object or aesthetics previously explicitly defined for said child object.