Serving content to a client

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

scanning content of a source page in which a component is to be inserted, the source page being expressed in mark-up code, wherein scanning comprises scanning the mark-up code and attributes associated with components defined using the mark-up code in order to obtain information relating to a style of the source page as a whole;

obtaining a profile based on the information obtained as a result of scanning the content of the source page, the profile identifying style of the source page; and

generating a content component that is to be included in the source page in accordance with the profile, wherein generating comprises formatting the content component in accordance with the profile so that a style of the content component comports substantially to a style of the source page.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mark-up language is HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content of the source page comprises contextual material including at least one of topical, geographical, temporal, and semantic characteristics.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content component comprises syndicated services including message boards, chat rooms, file exchanges, link exchanges, E-commerce, and/or auctions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content component comprises syndicated content including news feeds, weather information, stock information, road maps, pictures, video, audio, and/or text.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content component comprises one or more elements to be embedded in the source page.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the elements comprise syndicated textual or multimedia material shown within a context of the source page.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the elements comprise stand-alone elements.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the stand-alone elements comprise syndicated textual or multimedia material shown within a context in a browser window, dialog window, or pop-up window.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting script into the source page.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more frames into the source page.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more interior frames into the source page.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more layers into the source page.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more applets into the source page.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more Active-X controls into the source page.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting one or more plug-ins into the source page.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the content component in the source page by inserting Java code into the source page.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the profile comprises:

analyzing the style of the content of the source page;

analyzing the content of the source page; and

saving information relating to the style and content of the source page as the profile.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the profile is utilized as a filter that dictates content from the content component to include in the source page.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising incorporating the content component into the source page by referencing the profile in real-time.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein referencing the profile in real-time comprises:

checking the source page for updates; and

updating the profile with at least one of the updates.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein checking comprises comparing pairs of expiry information, last modified dates, cyclic redundancy codes (CRCs) or MD5s.

23. One or more machine-readable media comprising instructions that are executable to cause one or more processing devices to:

scan content of a source page in which a component is to be inserted, the source page being expressed in mark-up code, wherein scanning the content comprises scanning the mark-up code and attributes associated with components defined using the mark-up code in order to obtain information relating to a style of the source page as a whole;

obtain a profile based on the information obtained as a result of scanning the content of the source page, the profile identifying a style of the source page; and

generate a content component that is to be included in the source page in accordance with the profile, wherein generating comprises formatting the content component in accordance with the profile so that a style of the content component comports substantially to a style of the source page.

24. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 23 , wherein the source page and the content component are expressed in HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

25. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 23 , wherein the content of the source page comprises contextual material including topical, geographical, temporal and/or semantic characteristics.

26. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 23 , wherein the content component comprises syndicated services including at least one of message boards, chat rooms, file exchanges, link exchanges, E-commerce, and auctions.

27. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 23 , wherein the content component comprises at least one of syndicated content including news feeds, weather information, stock information, road maps, pictures, video, audio and/or text.

28. An apparatus comprising:

memory that stores instructions that are executable; and

at least one processing device that executes the instructions to:

scan content of a source page in which a component is to be inserted, the source page being expressed in mark-up code, wherein scanning the content comprises scanning the mark-up code and attributes associated with components defined using the mark-up code in order to obtain information relating to a style of the source page as a whole;

obtain a profile based on the information obtained as a result of scanning the content of the source page, the profile identifying a style of the source page; and

generate a content component that is to be included in the source page in accordance with the profile, wherein generating comprises formatting the content component in accordance with the profile so that a style of the content component comports substantially to a style of the source page.