Comment presentation in electronic documents

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a comment object in an electronic document;

receiving an indication that the comment object is being edited;

determining content in the electronic document that corresponds with the comment object being edited, based on information contained by a reference specification field of the comment object that refers to the content that corresponds with the comment object;

when the comment object is being edited, applying a mask to the electronic document that obscures content that does not correspond to the comment object being edited;

receiving an indication that a second comment is being edited;

determining content in the electronic document that corresponds with the second comment being edited; and

unmasking the content that corresponds to the user comment being edited.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein applying the mask comprises:

shading content in the electronic document that does not correspond to the comment object being edited.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying an author associated with the comment object being edited;

displaying, in association with the comment, the author's identity; and

displaying a visual indication associating the comment with highlighting a graphical user interface element representing the author's identity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mask comprises a translucent mask.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

presenting the electronic document using an online web application.

6. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

presenting, in an online web application, a first user comment in an electronic document;

receiving an indication that the first user comment is being edited;

determining content in the electronic document that corresponds with the first user comment being edited;

applying a mask to the electronic document that obscures content that does not correspond to first user comment being edited;

receiving an indication that a second user comment is being edited;

determining content in the electronic document that corresponds with the second user comment being edited; and

unmasking the content that corresponds to the second user comment being edited.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 6 , further comprising instructions, which when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

applying the mask to the electronic document that obscures content in the electronic document that corresponds with the first user comment that was being edited upon determining that the first user comment is no longer being edited.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first user comment is associated with a first color scheme and the second user comment is associated with a second color scheme.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 6 , further comprising instructions, which when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

determining an author associated with the first user comment; and

presenting an avatar of an author associated with the first user comment.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein presenting the avatar of the author associated with the first user comment comprises using a selected one of several available color schemes to highlight the avatar of the author and the first user comment.

11. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a graphical user interface module, coupled to the processor, and configured to:

present a comment object in an electronic document;

receive an indication that the comment object is being edited based on a selection of a user interface control that triggers display of a comment window associated with the comment object;

determine content in the electronic document that corresponds with the comment object being edited;

when the comment object is being edited, apply a mask to the electronic document that obscures content that does not correspond to the comment object being edited;

receiving an indication that a second comment is being edited;

determining content in the electronic document that corresponds with the second user comment being edited; and

unmasking the content that corresponds to the second comment being edited.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the graphical user interface module is further configured to determine a color scheme that corresponds to the comment, wherein the color scheme is based on at least one of a user or a user type.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the graphical user interface module is further configured to use the color scheme to emphasize the content associated with the comment.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the graphical user interface module is further configured to use the color scheme to emphasize a user interface element depicting the author of the comment.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the graphical user interface module is further configured to display an indication of the users currently viewing the electronic document.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the graphical user interface module is further configured to mask the content using a translucent mask.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the translucent mask has a configurable level of translucency.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving an indication that the comment object is being edited includes receiving an indication that a new comment is being created.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving an indication that the comment object is being edited includes receiving an indication that an existing comment is being revised.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information contained by the reference specification field includes numeric identification information that identifies discrete portions of the electronic document associated with the content that corresponds with the comment object.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information contained by the reference specification field includes numeric identification information that identifies discrete portions of the electronic document associated with the content that corresponds with the comment object and context information that identifies text within the content that corresponds with the comment object.