WO2001046860A1

WO2001046860A1 - Web page builder using category input tools

Info

Publication number: WO2001046860A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/030161
Authority: WO
Inventors: Uri Sarid; Doran Gal; Eran Liron
Original assignee: Digigroups
Priority date: 1999-12-21
Filing date: 2000-11-27
Publication date: 2001-06-28
Also published as: AU1755601A

Abstract

A web page builder program using category-based input tools allo ws for graphical production of a web page by an inexperienced user. The use of category-based input tools allows for input data to be automatically associated with category information. The input data is stored into a database associated with the category information.

Description

WEB PAGE BUILDER USING CATEGORY INPUT TOOLS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of The Invention

The present invention relates to web page builder programs. In recent years the Internet has exploded as a result of the popularity of the

World Wide Web (WWW). Businesses and individuals in large numbers have created web sites which are accessible on the WWW. Web pages are created using a markup language, typically the hypertext markup language (HTML). As the WWW becomes more popular, people who are not web page designers and are thus unfamiliar with HTML still desire to create web pages. For this reason, graphical web page design tools have been created. These graphical web page design tools allow the user to graphically input and format data to create a web page. The graphical web page builder programs automatically produce a web page based upon the user's graphical input The problem with prior-art graphical web page design systems is that it is hard to search the web pages so created to find context- or category-based information. In many situations, it is desired that the inputted web page data is associated in some manner with category information.

One suggested approach for associating web page data with categories is the extensible markup language (XML). However, XML is not currently uniformly used. More importantly, for the inexperienced user, designing a web page using XML is arguably more difficult than designing a web page using HTML.

It is desired to have an improved web page builder that avoids some of the problems of the prior art. SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention is a web page builder that automatically associates category information with input data by using selectable category -based data input tools in the web page builder. The input data can then be stored in a database associated with category information. This allows the data to be quickly accessed based upon the category.

One embodiment of the present invention is a web page builder system. The web page builder system includes a web page builder program and a database. The web page builder program is accessible on a user's computer. The web page builder program provides a display on the user's computer; the display includes a graphical interface to a number of selectable category-based data input tools and a web page canvas display. The selectable category-based data input tools allow the input of data to build a web page. The web page builder program associates at least some of the input data with category information based on a selected category-based data input tool, while the web page canvas displays a mock-up of a web page being constructed. The database is associated with a web server and stores web page information for the web page constructed by the web page builder program. In the database, the input data is associated with the category information.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a method including constructing a web page using a web page builder program, the constructing step including selecting a number of category-based data input tools and inputting data using the category -based data input tools. The web page builder program associates at least some of the data with category information based on the selected category -based data input tools. The method also includes the step of storing web page information for the web page constructed by the web page builder program in a database such that the input data is associated with category information. The present invention allows for a web page to be easily built by an inexperienced user such that the input web page data is associated with category information. The association of the input data of a web page with the category information in the database allows for more accurate searching of the database as well as for the construction of services, such as affinity groups and the like, in a more accurate manner. Associating of context information with input data also allows for category-based default web page formatting which can simplify the production of a web page by the user. Category -based data input tools are a much more user-driven way to input data than forms which are typically considered by users to be intimidating.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a diagram of a web page builder system of one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of the web page builder and database of the present invention; and

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Figure 1 illustrates one embodiment of the web page builder system of the present invention. Figure 1 shows a web page builder program 20 loaded into a user's computer 22. The web page builder program need not be completely contained within the user's computer 22, but can be stored in another location, such as the web server 24. In a preferred embodiment, the web page builder program is downloaded from the web server 24 to the user's computer 22 across the Internet. The web page building program 20 produces a display 26 at the user's computer 22. The display 26 includes a graphic interface with a number of selectable category -based data input tools 28 and a web page mock-up canvas 30. The user can select some of the category-based input tools 28 to input data to construct the web page. For example the selectable category -based input tools can include tools for name, telephone, address, occupation, interests, and other category -based tools. The user selects one of the category -based tools and then inputs data to build the web page. For example, if the user selects a name tool, a pop-up dialog box will appear on the screen and allow the user to input the name data. The name tool is specially adapted for inputting the name data. Once the name data has been inputted, the canvas 30 displays a mock-up of the web page including the name data. The name data is preferably displayed in a format appropriate for the selected category.

By inputting data using the category -based input tools, the data becomes automatically associated with category information. For example, the user's input name becomes associated with the "name" category.

In one embodiment, the category -based input tools include Address, Company, Customers, E-mail, Name, Phone Number, Affiliations, Awards, Education, Occupation, Research, Professional organizations/associations, Birthplace and Date of Birth. Other category -based input tools can be used as well.

In a preferred embodiment, the user can manipulate the data on the canvas mock-up so as to modify his web page in a manner desired. After the page is constructed, the web page builder program 20 sends an indication of the web page constructed across the Internet to web server 24. This indication includes the associations between the input data and the categories. The web server 24 runs a database program 32. The web server stores the input data into the database 32 such that the category information is available from the database. Details of one way to store information in the database are described with respect to Figure 2 below. After the web page is constructed, another user on computer 34 using browser 36 can send a web page uniform resource locator (URL) request to the web server 24. Web server 24 dynamically constructs the web page from the data stored in the database 32. The dynamically constructed web page 38 is then displayed on the user's computer 34. An advantage of dynamically constructing the web page 38 is that some data can be displayed to only members of a certain group. For example, a phone tool is used by the user to construct a web page, and the user selects a cell phone indication along with an indication that this cell phone number is to be displayed only to members of the user's family. Only if the browser 36 gives an indication to the web server 24 that the user at computer 34 is a member of the web page creator's family is the cell phone number included in the dynamically constructed web page 38. The varying of the web page display based upon a viewer's group affiliation is made much simpler with the system of the present invention since category information is automatically associated with input data by the web page builder 20. Figure 2 illustrates the interaction of web page builder program 50 and database 52 in one embodiment of the present invention. The category -based data input tools 54 shown in this example include a name input tool, a phone number input tool, an occupation input tool and an interests input tool. After selecting one of these tools and inputting data, the data is displayed in the canvas mock-up 56. In one embodiment, the category tools have a graphical user interface which is selectable by the user from the display. This can include a button, a series of buttons, a pull-down menu, or any other graphic interface. In one embodiment, once one of the tools is selected, a dialog box is created. Data is entered using the dialog box and displayed onto the canvas 56. Details of the bialog box input can vary for different category tools. Once the data is displayed on canvas 56, the data may be modified, moved, and changes made in format, size and color by the user.

In a preferred embodiment, category-based default formatting is used. For example, when a name is selected and data inputted, a default position, font size, font type, color and the like is used. The default formatting can be replaced with non-standard formatting by the user as desired. The selectable category-based tools are not preconfigured forms.

Preconfigured forms tend to intimidate the user and will often end an interaction on the Internet. The selectable category-based user input tools are user-driven. The user selects only the tools desired. The user need not see the empty spaces for unnecessary input locations which are associated with preconfigured forms. The category-based input tools supply value to the user in creating the web page because they allow category -based default formatting, accurate searching, sharing information, and easy updating.

Database 52 stores the input data associated with the category tools. For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, a relational database using tables is produced using the information provided by the web page builder. In one example, when the name is input, a table entry including key value, name, location, layout information, and access information is produced. The entry indicated in Figure 2 for "John Smith" indicates a layout position of "50, 100, " type size "bold" and an access value of "all. " Note that more than one piece of data can be associated with a category.

For example, in the example of Figure 2, two telephone numbers are used. In this example, the second telephone number is the number of a cell phone which only provides access to members of "group A" when a web page is dynamically created using the data in the database 52. The ease with which multiple entries of a category can be produced is an advantage of the category-based input tools over forms.

Figure 3 is a diagram that illustrates the operation of one embodiment of the present invention. In step 1, the web page builder program is downloaded across the Internet to a user's computer 60 from the web server 62. The category tools of the web page builder are used to construct a web page. In step 2, the data from the web page builder program is sent back to the web server 62. In step 3, the web server or web builder program sets up database table entries or modifications which are sent to the database 64. The web server 62 can now dynamically construct a web site for a viewer from the database entries stored in the database 64.

Although dynamically created web pages based upon entries stored in a database are known, the automatic association of category information with input data using a web page builder program which graphically allows the construction of a web page by an inexperienced user has not previously been known.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central character thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalents thereof are intended to be embraced herein.

Claims

Claims:

1. A web page builder system comprising: a web page builder program, the web page builder program accessible on a user's computer, the web page builder program providing a display on the user's computer, the display including an graphical interface to a number of selectable category -based data input tools and a web page canvas display, the selectable category-based data input tools allowing the input of data to build a web page, the web page builder program associating at least some of the input data with category information based on a selected category-based data input tool, the web page canvas display displaying a mock-up of a web page being constructed; and a database associated with a web server, the database storing web page information for the web page constructed by the web page builder program such that the input data is associated with the category information.

2. The web page builder system of Claim 1 wherein the web server dynamically produces web pages for a viewer based upon data stored in the database.

3. The web page builder system of Claim 2 wherein the database stores access information as to some of the input data such that the dynamically created web pages may or may not display some of the input data based upon the access information stored in the database.

4. The web page builder system of Claim 1 wherein the database stores format information for some of the data associated with category information.

. The web page builder system of Claim 1 in which the database can be used by other users to access the user information associated with the category information.

6. The web page builder system of Claim 1 wherein the web page canvas display can be used for graphically modifying the format data for the information to be stored in the database.

7. The web page builder system of Claim 1 wherein default formatting information is stored in the database based upon the selected category-based tool.

8. The web page builder system of Claim 1 wherein the web page builder allows the display of more than one instance of a selected tool per page.

9. The web page builder system of Claim 1 , wherein one category -based data input tool is a name input tool.

10. The web page builder system of Claim 1 , wherein one category -based data input tool is a phone number input tool.

11. The web page builder system of Claim 1 , wherein one category -based data input tool is an occupation input tool.

12. The web page builder system of Claim 1 , wherein one category -based data input tool is an interests input tool.

13. A method comprising: constructing a web page using a web page builder program, the constructing step including selecting a number of category -based data input tools and inputting data using the category -based data input tools, the web page builder program associating at least some of the input data with category information based on the selected category-based data input tools; and storing web page information for the web page constructed by the web page builder program in a database such that the input data is associated with category information.

14. The method of Claim 13 further comprising the step of dynamically producing a web page for a viewer based upon the data stored in the database.

15. The method of Claim 14 wherein the database stores access information associated with some of the input data, the access information affecting how the web page is dynamically constructed using the data stored in the database.

16. The method of Claim 13 wherein the web page canvas display displays information associated with category information based upon category-based default formats.

17. The method of Claim 13 wherein one of the category -based data input tools is a name input tool.

18. The method of Claim 13 wherein one of the category-based data input tools is a phone number input tool.

19. The method of Claim 13 wherein one of the category-based data input tools is an occupation input tool.

20. The method of Claim 13 wherein one of the category-based data input tools is an interests input tool.