SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIALOG CUSTOMIZATION

1 . A system for customizing attributes of views and linking components in a website building system (WBS), the system comprising:

a database storing customization records for views and linking components, wherein a customization record specifies configurable attributes for an individual view or linking component;

a property collector to retrieve customization records for selected views and linking components from said database;

a dialog builder to build a customization dialog according to said retrieved customization records; and

an attribute applier to update configurable attributes of said selected views and linking components according to input received via said customization dialog.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sorter and prioritizer to sort and prioritize said configurable attributes of said retrieved customization records.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the sorter and prioritizer sorts said configurable attributes according to a priority value specified in each customization record.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the dialog builder constructs said customization dialog according to a layout of components contributing the customization records.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said attribute applier updates configurable attributes using an implementation formula specified in the customization records.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said attribute applier updates configurable attributes continuously as input is received via the customization dialog to provide a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) effect.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said property collector retrieves customization records for views and linking components selected by a user of said WBS.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the attribute applier updates configurable attributes of view template definitions to apply changes to multiple instances of a view within a website.

9 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said dialog builder performs at least one of: updating an existing customization dialog and creating a new customization dialog.

10 . A method for customizing attributes of views and linking components in a website building system (WBS), comprising:

storing customization records for views and linking components in a database, wherein a customization record specifies configurable attributes for an individual view or linking component;

retrieving customization records for selected views and linking components from said database;

building a customization dialog according to said retrieved customization records; and

updating configurable attributes of said selected views and linking components according to input received via said customization dialog.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising sorting and prioritizing said configurable attributes of said retrieved customization records.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein sorting said configurable attributes is performed according to a priority value specified in each customization record.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein building said customization dialog comprises constructing the dialog according to a layout of components contributing the customization records.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein updating configurable attributes comprises applying an implementation formula specified in the customization records.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein updating configurable attributes comprises continuously updating attributes as input is received via the customization dialog to provide a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) effect.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein retrieving customization records comprises retrieving records for views and linking components selected by a user of said WBS.

17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein updating configurable attributes comprises updating attributes of view template definitions to apply changes to multiple instances of a view within a website.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein building said customization dialog comprises at least one of: updating an existing customization dialog and creating a new customization dialog.