(12) United States Patent
`Ferrel et al.
`
`USOO6230173B1
`(10) Patent No.:
`US 6,230,173 B1
`(45) Date of Patent:
`*May 8, 2001
`
`(54) METHOD FOR CREATING STRUCTURED
`DOCUMENTS IN A PUBLISHING SYSTEM
`
`4,969,093 * 11/1990 Barker et al. ........................ 395/800
`5,347,632
`9/1994 Filepp et al..................... 395/200.09
`5,475,805
`12/1995 Murata et al. ....................... 395/774
`5,557,722 * 9/1996 DeRose et al. ...................... 395/774
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`(75) Inventors: Patrick J. Ferrel, Seattle; Robert F.
`Meyer, Redmond; Stephen J. Millet,
`Seattle; John P. Shewchuk, Seattle;
`Walter W. Smith, Seattle, all of WA
`US (US)
`Duncan, Ray, “Power Programming: An HTML Primer.” PC
`(73) Assignee: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA Magazine, Jun. 13, 1995, pp. 261-270.
`(US)
`Sperberg-McQueen et al., “HTML to the Max: a Manifesto
`This patent issued on a continued pros-
`for Adding SGML Intelligence to the World-Wide Web”,
`ecution application filed under 37 CFR
`http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/IT94/Proceedings/Autools/
`1.53(d), and is subject to the twenty year
`Sperberg-McQueen/sperberg.html., Oct. 1994.*
`patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C.
`154(a)(2).
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`(21) Appl. No.: 08/503,307
`(22) Filed:
`Jul. 17, 1995
`51) Int. Cl." ................................................. G06F 17/30
`2.
`S. C.
`707/513, 707.
`(58) Field of Search .................... 707/513 501 51 4. 51 s
`3 - Y
`-3 a -i- is
`
`(*) Notice:
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`Primary Examiner Stephen S. Hong
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Banner & Wilcoff, Ltd.
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`An authoring environment for producing content for an
`on-line System is described. This environment includes a
`story editor which can save files in a Multimedia Document
`one Storage object holds text of the content in a Multimedia
`Publishing Markup Language. Other parts of the MDF file
`include Storages for holding content Search terms and Stor
`ages for embedded objects.
`
`Format (MDF) file. AMDF file is an OLE storage wherein
`
`15 Claims, 19 Drawing Sheets
`
`58 Fi ld f s - - - - - - - - h - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -395/774 776 778:
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`12/1987 Litteken ............................... 395/774
`
`4,710,885
`
`r
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`592
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`STORE PARSED
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`AND DISPLAY
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`
`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 1 of 41
`
`

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`U.S. Patent
`
`May8, 2001
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`Sheet 1 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`Page 2 of 41
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`U.S. Patent
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`May8, 2001
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`Sheet 2 of 19
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST,Exhibit 1018
`Page 3 of 41
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 3 of 41
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`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 3 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 4 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 4 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 5 of 41
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 5 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`324
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 6 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 6 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 7 of 41
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`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 7 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 8 of 41
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 8 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`PAGE LAYOUTS + CONTENT OBJECTS = DISPLAYED PAGES
`FRONT PAGE SECTION
`430
`
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`
`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 9 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 9 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`184
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 10 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May8, 2001
`
`Sheet 10 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`Page 11 of 41
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 11 of 41
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`
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May8, 2001
`
`Sheet 11 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`Page 12 of 41
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 12 of 41
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`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 12 0f 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`650
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 13 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 13 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`750
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 14 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 14 Of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 15 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May8, 2001
`
`Sheet 15 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST,Exhibit 1018
`Page 16 of 41
`
`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 16 of 41
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`
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 16 0f 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 17 of 41
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May 8, 2001
`
`Sheet 17 of 19
`
`US 6,230,173 B1
`
`950
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 18 of 41
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`May8, 2001
`
`Sheet 18 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST,Exhibit 1018
`Page 19 of 41
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 19 of 41
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`U.S. Patent
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`May 8, 2001
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`Sheet 19 of 19
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`TAGGED STORY
`<H1> This is an example of text that can beformatted in different ways by
`using
`a style sheet. The style sheet can present the user with text that appears to be
`formatted in a particularly desireable way without modifying the underlying
`text. CH1 D
`
`1050
`
`<P> Some styles apply to character attributes, such as boldface, italics, or
`underline, while other styles apply to paragraph attributes. CP CH2P Some
`paragraphs and characters will appear the same even after application of
`
`1054a
`STYLE N?
`SHEETA
`
`1054b.
`
`STYLE
`SHEETB
`
`1056a
`This is an example of text that can
`be formatted in different ways by
`using style sheet. The style
`sheet can present the user with
`text that appears to be formatted in
`a particularly desireable way
`without modifying the underlying
`text
`
`1056b
`This is an example of text that can
`be formatted in different ways by
`using style sheet. The style
`sheet can present the user with
`text that appears to be formatted in
`a particularly desireable way
`without modifying the underlying
`fext.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`SOME STYLES APPLY TO
`CHARACTERATTRIBUTES, SUCH
`AS BOLD FACE, TALCS, OR
`UNDERLINE, WHILE OTHER
`STYLES APPLY TO PARAGRAPH
`ATTRIBUTES.
`Some paragraphs and
`characters will appear the same even
`after application of different style
`sheets.
`DISPLAYED STORY IN
`STYLEA
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`SOME STYLES APPLY TO
`CHARACTERATTRIBUTES, SUCH AS
`BOLD FACE, TALCS, ORUNDERLINE,
`WHILE OTHERSTYLES APPLY TO
`PARAGRAPHATRIBUTES.
`
`Some paragraphs and
`characters will appear the same even
`after application of different style
`sheets.
`DISPLAYED STORY IN
`STYLEB
`
`FIG. 18
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
`Page 20 of 41
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`1
`METHOD FOR CREATING STRUCTURED
`DOCUMENTS IN A PUBLISHING SYSTEM
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`The present invention relates to electronic publishing
`Systems and, more specifically, to an authoring System for
`creating Structured documents in an on-line publishing Sys
`tem
`2. Description of the Related Technology
`Many different Systems exist for publishing documents on
`a computer System. These Systems are used to, for example,
`create newsletters or brochures to promote a particular
`company. In addition, publications can be used to dissemi
`nate information to a variety of customers. A number of
`programs exist for allowing a user to design complicated
`layouts for a particular application. Well-known programs
`such as Microsoft Publisher(R), Ventura Publisher(R),
`PageMaker(R), and PrintShop(R) help a user to produce attrac
`tive newsletters and brochures.
`These publication Systems let the user define particular
`regions of every page for a specific purpose. For example,
`the user can place a graphic frame that runs along the top of
`the page to hold a particular image. Such an image may
`include the title of the newsletter or another related aspect of
`the newsletter. In a similar way, the user may define other
`areas of the first page to include one or more text frames for
`holding text-based information Such as the words from
`particular Story. The user designs the text frame to have
`certain properties, Such as height, width, background color,
`foreground color and other Such properties So that the text
`becomes attractively formatted for the customer. In addition,
`the user can format the text information within the text frame
`to have desired font and paragraph characteristics. For
`example, the user can highlight the characters within the text
`frame and define that font to be, for example, bold-faced.
`The user can also choose to only apply a character format to
`Specific words or paragraphs within a text frame.
`Some of these publication programs use a MicroSoft
`Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) architecture to store
`their documents. A major feature of OLE is interoperability,
`the basis for integration between applications. This integra
`tion brings with it the need to have multiple applications
`write information to the same file on the underlying file
`system. OLE defines a model called OLE Structured Storage
`for treating a single file System entity as a structured
`collection of two types of objects; Storages and Streams.
`These objects act like directories and files, respectively. The
`OLE Structured Storage model generally implements these
`objects, applications rarely, if ever, need to implement them.
`These objects, like all others in OLE, implement interfaces:
`IStream for Stream objects, IStorage for Storage objects.
`A Stream object is the conceptual equivalent of a single
`disk file. Streams are the basic file System component in
`which data lives, each Stream has access rights and a single
`Seek pointer. Through its IStream interface, a stream can be
`told to read, write, Seek, and perform a few other operations
`on its underlying data. Streams are named by using a text
`String; they can contain any internal Structure because they
`are simply a flat Stream of bytes. In addition, the functions
`in the IStream interface map nearly one-to-one with Standard
`file-handle-based functions such as those in the ANSI C/C++
`run-time library.
`A Storage object is the conceptual equivalent of a direc
`tory. Each Storage, like a directory, can contain any number
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`of Substorages (Subdirectories) and any number of streams
`(files). Furthermore, each storage has its own access rights.
`The IStorage interface describes the capabilities of a Storage
`object, Such as enumerate elements (dir), move, copy,
`rename, create, and destroy. A Storage object itself cannot
`Store application-defined data except that it implicitly Stores
`the names of the elements (storages and streams) contained
`within it.
`The OLE Structured Storage technology solves problems
`asSociated with previous flat file Systems through the extra
`level of indirection of a file system within a file. With OLE,
`a particular application can create a Structured hierarchy
`where the root file itself has many SubStorages. Each Sub
`Storage can have SubStorages within it, and So on.
`This structure Solves the problem of expanding informa
`tion in one of the objects: The object itself expands the
`Streams in its control, and the implementation of Storage
`determines where to Store all the information in the Stream.
`In this Sort of Storage Scheme, the objects that manage the
`content always have direct incremental access to their piece
`of Storage. That is, when the object needs to Store its data,
`it writes it directly into its subfiles without having to involve
`the main application. The object can, if it wants to, write
`incremental changes to that Storage, thus leading to much
`better performance.
`If the user wants to make changes to that information later
`on, the object can then incrementally read as little informa
`tion as necessary instead of requiring the application to read
`all the information into memory first. Incremental access, a
`feature that has traditionally been very hard to implement in
`applications, is now the default mode of operation.
`Other categories of publication systems include Software
`for electronically publishing Stories acroSS on-line networks
`Such as CompuServe, America On-Line, or the Internet.
`Most of these Systems create and display Stories that are
`formatted in a Standard Generalized Markup Language
`(SGML) or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Both the
`HTML and SGML are standards for tagging text in docu
`ments to be displayed in an on-line network. Documents that
`are formatted in HTML or SGML can be viewed by several
`widely distributed browsers such as Mosaic and NetScape
`for the Internet. These browser programs read SGML and
`HTML tagged documents and display them with proper
`formatting.
`Several programs exist for producing documents that are
`tagged in either the SGML and HTML format. Programs
`Such as Interleaf's WorldView 2 allow a user to create an
`SGML document with, for instance, bold-face text and
`hyperlinks to other documents. Once a document has been
`saved in an SGML format, it can be read by either the
`Mosaic or NetScape browser. Unfortunately, all of the
`formatting commands for text or graphics in an SGML or
`HTML document are embedded within the document. The
`Mosaic or NetScape browserS do not reformat these tagged
`documents, but rather only display the commands embedded
`in the SGML or HTML documents to a user. For this reason,
`the designers that produce the SGML and HTML documents
`must add formatting commands to every new document. In
`addition, there is little flexibility to change the document's
`formatting once the tagged document has been produced.
`Therefore, the process of creating documents for display
`using SGML or HTML is very inefficient for the document
`designer.
`Other commercially available Software programs for pro
`ducing on-line publications are available in the marketplace.
`One type of electronic publisher that generates its own
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`PETITIONERS - AMERICAN/SOUTHWEST, Exhibit 1018
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`Specific format of text while retaining the Specific layout of
`the document is the Adobe Acrobat TM Software package.
`Acrobat" reads and Stores documents in a specialized
`format known as the Portable Document Format (PDF) for
`use on the Internet. Other electronic publishing programs are
`produced by Interleaf, Inc. (Waltham, Mass.), Farallon Com
`puting (Alameda, Calif.) and Common Ground Software
`(Belmont, Calif.).
`In addition, a converter has been written by Charlesview
`(Boston, Mass.) to convert Microsoft Word(R) documents
`into HTML text. This converter works by mapping Word
`Styles to HTML tags, and then produces a text document.
`However, Since these documents are converted into a text
`form so they can be read by well known browsers, they do
`not include embedded objects. In addition, HTML text
`documents do not have any associated keywords which
`would allow them to be found quickly acroSS a large on-line
`System.
`Another on-line information system is described in U.S.
`Pat. No. 5,347,632 by Filepp et al. This patent discusses an
`interactive computer System network which enables a user to
`display news information and perform transactional Services
`through a personal computer. However, in the Filepp System
`the news information is integrated into display regions.
`The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,632
`includes procedures for formulating objects that have been
`Specially Structured to include display data, control data and
`program instructions. Unfortunately, this System does not
`provide a separation of the content being displayed from the
`design.
`Therefore a need exists for an on-line System which
`provides separation of design from content. Moreover, a
`need exists for an authoring System to be used in an on-line
`network to provide content providers with increased flex
`ibility for presenting their content to customers.
`
`4
`comprising publisher, Server and customer computers com
`prising creating tagged content, Storing a plurality of tagged
`objects representative of the tagged content in a document in
`the publisher computer, adding at least one non-tagged
`object to the document, transferring the document to the
`Server computer, and receiving, at the customer computer,
`from the Server computer the non-tagged objects of the
`document independent of the tagged objects.
`Another aspect of the present invention is a method of
`publishing Structured documents in an electronic publication
`System, comprising inserting a plurality of text portions
`indicative of a Story object into a document, tagging each
`text portion of the Story object with a tag, inserting an
`embedded object into the Story object, Storing the tagged text
`portions into a first object Storage of the Story object, Storing
`the embedded object into a Second object Storage of the Story
`object, and displaying Selected ones of the text portions and
`the embedded object, the Selection dependent upon the tags.
`Yet another aspect of the present invention is a structured
`document in an electronic publication System, comprising a
`Storage container having a root Storage, a find properties
`object Stream referenced by the root Storage, a markup
`language object Storage referenced by the root Storage
`container, and an embedded object Storage referenced by the
`root Storage container.
`Still another aspect of the present invention is a method
`for efficiently transmitting tagged content to a computer in
`an on-line publishing System, comprising creating a tagged
`document on a host computer, parsing the tagged document
`into a parse tree comprising a plurality of objects, and
`transmitting the objects to a Second computer.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`FIG. 1 is block diagram of the basic System configuration
`of the multimedia publishing system (MPS), which is pres
`ently preferred underlying architecture for the present inven
`tion.
`FIG. 2 is a diagram of the major System components of the
`MPS Shown in FIG. 1.
`FIG. 3 is a diagram of a exemplary network Storage
`Subsystem, which is an implementation of the publication
`storage shown in FIG. 1.
`FIG. 4 is block diagram of a hierarchy of containers for
`a plurality of publishers using the system of FIGS. 1 and 2.
`FIG. 5 is a overview flow diagram of the MPS processes
`performed using the system of FIGS. 1 and 2.
`FIG. 6 is an exemplary Screen display of one page of a
`title as displayed by the viewer of FIG. 2.
`FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen display of the parts of the
`content and layout for the title displayed in FIG. 6.
`FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the interaction of page
`layouts, controls, and Style sheet and content objects at the
`viewer of FIG. 2.
`FIG. 9 is an overview block diagram showing two meth
`ods of adding content to a MP System project.
`FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the structure of a MDF file.
`FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an overview of the
`process of creating content, adding content to titles, pub
`lishing and viewing the published content.
`FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of the process used to create a
`new MDF document with a content editor as shown in FIG.
`11.
`FIGS. 13a and 13b are flow diagrams of the process
`performed by the preferred content editor to Save content in
`a MDF document as shown in FIG. 11.
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`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention relates to a new authoring System
`for creating on-line Stories. The preferred embodiment of the
`environment uses an enhanced version of Microsoft Word(E)
`to create Multimedia Document Files (MDF). These multi
`media files are then used to provide content for displayed
`on-line titles as discussed below for a Multimedia Publish
`ing System (MPS).
`The enhanced Microsoft Word(R) includes a pair of con
`verters to translate the Rich Text Format (RTF) input/output
`of Word(E) to a Multimedia Document File format. In
`addition, a Word template is included to help the author
`produce documents with valid embedded codes. A hypertext
`link embedding tool and a property editor for assigning find
`properties to the document are also included. These will be
`discussed below in more detail.
`One object in the MDF file storage holds text of the story
`that is tagged in a newly designed markup language termed
`herein as the Multimedia Publishing Markup Language
`(MPML). MPML is a version of the HTML 2.0 with
`additional extensions for Supporting more detailed tagging
`of structure as well as embedded OLE objects.
`In addition to adding MDF content to a project by
`authoring in Word(R), the present invention also includes
`programs for converting existing HTML documents to a
`MPML when added to a project. These concepts will be
`explained in more detail below.
`One embodiment of the present invention is a method of
`publishing Structured documents in a computer network
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`US 6,230,173 B1
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`FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Multime
`dia Publishing Markup Language (MPML) parse tree having
`a root, find properties and tagged text.
`FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary title tree
`with parsed MDF documents attached to the story nodes.
`FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating the process of
`Viewing tagged content in a control region of a page as
`shown in process 615 or FIG. 11.
`FIG. 17 is a diagram of the process of mapping tag ID
`numbers to Style ID numbers for retrieving Style properties
`from a style ID lookup table.
`FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating the process of
`displaying the same tagged Story using two different Style
`sheets.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
`Reference is now made to the drawings wherein like
`numerals refer to like parts throughout. For convenience, the
`following description will be organized into the following
`Seven principle Sections: Acronyms, Advantages of the
`Multimedia Publication System, Multimedia Publishing
`System Overview, Authoring Overview, Multimedia Docu
`ment Format File Structure, Using Multimedia Documents
`in an On-line System, Summary.
`The discussion in the first three Sections is general back
`ground of the preferred Multimedia Publication System
`(MPS). The remaining sections focus on the preferred imple
`mentation of structured documents within the MPS.
`
`6
`following Sections present background information on a
`preferred on-line publication System which is a foundation
`upon which the present invention can reside.
`To enable a new generation of on-line, multimedia
`applications, an end-to-end System has been invented for
`developing and using applications and Services. The System,
`called the Multimedia Publishing System (MPS or MP
`System), preferably uses the MicroSoftNetwork. As an open,
`turnkey System, MPS includes components for design,
`authoring, distribution, Viewing, Search, personalization,
`and billing of on-line Services and multimedia applications.
`The MP system allows content providers to offer rich,
`interactive multimedia applications and Services, providing
`users a compelling and exciting on-line experience. The MP
`System provides the key to overcoming the previously
`described hurdles facing the on-line industry.
`The Microsoft Network removes the primary barriers to
`on-line Service use. These barriers include cost, difficult user
`interfaces and lack of inertia. Access to The Microsoft
`Network is provided by Windows 95, the most recent
`version of the Microsoft Windows operating system thereby
`making it accessible to millions of customers. The Microsoft
`Network is designed to make accessing electronic informa
`tion easy and inexpensive for any user of Windows 95.
`In the MP system, Independent Content Providers (ICPs),
`also known as publishers, Supply the System with Stories,
`publications, newspapers, Sounds, graphics movies and
`much more. The MP System is designed to take projects (e.g.
`Stories, publications and newsletters) produced by the pub
`lishers and make them accessible to millions of users on the
`Microsoft Network. Thus, the basic components of the MP
`System are a project designer component, a public distribu
`tion site, and a viewer component. These components of the
`MP system are described in detail below.
`One unique concept that permeates the MP System is the
`clean Separation of content and design. In this context,
`content is defined as the actual data that is to be displayed
`to the user. The design of a project is how that information
`gets displayed to the user (e.g., its format on the computer
`Screen). An illustrative example would be an electronic
`newspaper, wherein the content is the text and graphics of
`the Stories, while the design is the layout and Style of that
`data. The design of the electronic newspaper is what makes
`it look like a newspaper on a computer monitor, whereas the
`content is the data that makes up the designed Screens.
`In the MPSystem, the content and the design are Stored as
`Separate objects in the public distribution site So that many
`different pieces of content can be viewed with the same
`appearance. An object can be defined as a discrete data item
`or data Structure which can be Stored in persistent Storage or
`in memory. The object may include computer instructions
`for manipulating data. Once a designer using the project
`designer component at the publisher site has created a
`particular page layout that is attractive, many pieces of
`content can be viewed from within that layout because of the
`separation of content from design in the MP system. The
`System keeps track of links between a piece of content and
`its associated page layout, but does not actually format the
`data in the content with a particular Style. This is one
`tremendous advantage that the MP system has over other
`on-line publishing Systems. Such as Mosaic or Netscape.
`AS will be discussed in more detail below, the designer
`createS projects with design and content information for a
`particular publisher. Continuing the example from above, a
`project could correspond to an entity that owned a Series of
`newspapers and other media businesses. Within each
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`I. ACRONYMS
`The following list of acronyms is provided as a reference
`in reading the remaining S