Document with Sidebars
An electronic document has a sidebar object that is defined and formatted as an object within the document. The sidebar object may be presented and operate as a separate document within the main document, with individual controls such as scrolling, pagination, and zoom. A display mechanism determines display parameters for a display device and applies formatting to the document as a whole, including the sidebar object, to present the document. The sidebar object may have a second format that is applied to the sidebar object.
1 . A method comprising:
reading a document, said document comprising a sidebar object and a document format definition, said sidebar object comprising a sidebar object definition;
determine display parameters about a display;
formatting said document using said display parameters and said document format definition, said document format definition being applied to said sidebar object;
formatting said sidebar object using said sidebar format definition; and
rendering said document within a first display object on said display.
2 . The method of claim 1 , said sidebar object comprising at least one of a group composed of: text, video, audio, and an image.
3 . The method of claim 1 , said sidebar object comprising a header.
4 . The method of claim 1 , said sidebar object having an anchor defined in said document.
5 . The method of claim 1 , said first display object comprising a window.
6 . The method of claim 1 , said first display object comprising a full screen display.
7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
controlling said sidebar object independently from said document.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said controlling comprises at least one of a group composed of: page navigation, zooming, panning, and scrolling.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
opening said sidebar object in a second display object.
10 . A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions adapted to perform the method of claim 1 .
11 . A system comprising:
a document reader adapted to read a document, said document comprising a sidebar object and a document format definition, said sidebar object comprising a sidebar format definition;
a display detector adapted to determine display parameters about a display;
a formatter adapted to:
format said document using said display parameters and said document format definition, said document format definition being applied to said sidebar object; and
format said sidebar object using said sidebar format definition; and
a renderer adapted to render said document within a first display object on said display.
12 . The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a controller adapted to perform controlling functions on said sidebar object.
13 . The system of claim 12 , said controlling functions comprising at least one of a group composed of: page navigation, zooming, panning, and scrolling.
14 . The system of claim 12 , said controlling functions being applied to said sidebar object independently of said document.
15 . The system of claim 12 , said sidebar object comprising a header.
16 . The system of claim 12 , said sidebar object having an anchor defined in said document.
17 . An electronic document comprising:
a document body;
a sidebar object comprising:
an anchor within said document body; and
a sidebar format definition;
a document format definition adapted to be applied to said document body and said sidebar object.
18 . The electronic document of claim 17 , said sidebar object further comprising a header.
19 . The electronic document of claim 17 , said sidebar object further comprising controls adapted to perform controlling operations on said sidebar object.
20 . The electronic document of claim 19 , said controlling operations comprising at least one of a group composed of: page navigation, zooming, panning, and scrolling.