Enabling Absolute Positioning with Publishable HTML Code

• US 20140298163A1
• Filed: 04/01/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Bank, Christopher R., Surber, Jacob Aaron, Joseph, Kristofer G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,892,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/235
• 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 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

This document describes techniques and apparatuses that enable absolute positioning with publishable HTML code. These techniques permit a designer to place objects at absolute positions in a design interface and see how a webpage will actually look in response to that placement. A designer need not publish the design before seeing how it will actually look because the design interface determines and then uses publishable HTML code to present the design, even in real time. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the techniques provide real-time feedback showing parameters of the publishable HTML code, thereby permitting the designer to quickly and easily change the publishable HTML code by altering the shown parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving selection of an HTML object in a design interface, the selection of the HTML object including absolute position for the HTML object within an HTML page presented within the design interface;

determining publishable HTML code that enables the absolute position for the selected HTML object while maintaining positions currently occupied by other HTML objects in the HTML page; and

presenting, using the determined, publishable HTML code, the selected HTML object at the absolute position and the other HTML objects at their respective positions.

2. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving selection, placing the other HTML objects on the HTML page based on Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) float, margin, and clearing properties of the other HTML objects, and wherein determining publishable HTML code is based on the CSS float, margin, and clearing properties of the other HTML objects.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein determining publishable HTML code determines Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) parameters for the selected HTML object, the CSS parameters include float, margin, or clearing properties.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein determining the publishable HTML code determines margin values of those of the other HTML objects that neighbor the selected HTML object when at the absolute position.

5. A method as described in claim 4, wherein determining the margin values is based on a previous selection to permit negative margins.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein determining the publishable HTML code determines a location for the selected HTML object in a Document Object Model (DOM) for the HTML page, the location being a new location and based on the absolute position.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the other HTML objects include at least one HTML object positioned below or right of the absolute position of the selected HTML object.

8. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising altering a location in the HTML page of one of the other HTML objects based on a determined negative margin.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the selection of the selected HTML object adds, removes, moves, or resizes the selected HTML object within the HTML page of the design interface.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the selection of the selected HTML object moves, through a drag-and-drop selection, the selected HTML object from a prior position in the HTML page to the absolute position in the HTML page.

11. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

presenting parameters of the determined, publishable HTML code;

enabling selection, through the design interface, to alter one of the parameters;

responsive to the selection to alter one of the parameters, altering the determined, publishable HTML code based on the altered parameter; and

presenting, using the altered, publishable HTML code, the selected HTML object and the other HTML objects.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

presenting parameters of publishable HTML code in a design interface, the publishable HTML code through which an HTML page is producible;

receiving selection, through the design interface, to alter one of the parameters;

responsive to the selection to alter one of the parameters, altering the publishable HTML code based on the altered parameter; and

presenting, using the altered, publishable HTML code, the HTML page.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein presenting parameters of publishable HTML code is performed responsive to receiving selection to alter a position or size of an HTML object in the HTML page.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the selection to alter one of the parameters alters a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) parameter and altering the publishable HTML code alters a Document Object Model (DOM) to change the CSS parameter.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 14, wherein the CSS parameter is a float, a margin, or a clearing property.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 14, wherein the CSS parameter is a margin between a neighboring HTML object and the selected HTML object.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving selection of an HTML object, the selection of the HTML object including absolute position for the HTML object within an HTML page;

determining publishable HTML code that enables the absolute position for the selected HTML object while maintaining positions currently occupied by other HTML objects in the HTML page;

presenting, using the determined, publishable HTML code, the selected HTML object at the absolute position and the other HTML objects at their respective positions;

presenting Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) parameters of the determined, publishable HTML code;

receiving selection, through the HTML page, to alter one of the parameters;

responsive to the selection to alter one of the parameters, altering the publishable HTML code based on the altered parameter; and

presenting, using the altered, publishable HTML code, the selected HTML object and the other HTML objects within the HTML page.

18. A system as described in claim 17, wherein the publishable HTML code is configured to be published by a browser without an additional publishing step or post-processing step.

19. A system as described in claim 17, wherein determining the publishable HTML code:

parses a Document Object Model (DOM) to determine current locations on the HTML page for the other HTML objects; and

determines, based on the absolute position of the selected HTML object and CSS values associated with the selected HTML object, those of the other HTML objects that will not be altered.

20. A system as described in claim 17, wherein determining the publishable HTML code determines intermediate, publishable HTML code during movement of the selected HTML object and flags changes made to the other HTML objects neighboring the selected HTML object in the intermediate, publishable HTML code for later use in determining the determined, publishable HTML code.