Method for authoring, developing, and posting electronic documents

Abstract

A method for authoring, developing, and posting an electronic document is performed in a system which includes an author computer ( 102 ) operated by an author, and a developer system ( 110 ) which includes a developer computer ( 114 ) operated by a developer. After a qualification procedure ( 214 - 242 ) which includes sending ( 233 ) an auto-response message to an e-mail address indicated by the author, the developer system sends ( 312 ) the author a document authoring page ( 370 ) over a first network ( 120 ). Using the document authoring page, the author enters ( 316 ) certain information describing a Web page which the author desires to have created. The author computer sends ( 322 ) that information to the developer system, and a developer modifies ( 330 ) an HTML document describing the Web page to put it in a form that is ready for posting to a network server ( 116, 130 ). After the author approves ( 344 ) the final HTML document, the developer system posts ( 348 ) the document to the server. The Web page associated with the final HTML document is then accessible for viewing over the second network.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for developing a network-accessible electronic document comprising the steps of: 
 a) receiving a document authoring page in an electronic format from a developer system;    b) creating, by an author computer which is separate from the developer system, a first electronic document which includes author-specified information specified by an author of the first electronic document, wherein the first electronic document is created using the document authoring page;    c) sending the first electronic document across a first network to a developer computer which is part of the developer system;    d) receiving, over the first network from the developer computer, a modified document, wherein the modified document is based on the first electronic document and includes additional information; and    e) displaying, by the author computer, a graphical display defined by the modified electronic document.    
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the step of creating the first electronic document comprises the steps of: 
 b1) creating a hypertext document which describes a Web page which is blank; and    b2) modifying the hypertext document to include the author-specified information, wherein the author-specified information relates to content of the Web page.    
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the step of sending the first electronic document comprises the steps of: 
 c1) receiving a request from the author to submit the first electronic document; and    c2) as a result of the receiving the request step, sending the first electronic document to the developer computer over an Internet.    
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving the modified document comprises the step of receiving a hypertext document.  
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the step of receiving the modified document comprises the step of receiving the hypertext document via e-mail over an Internet.  
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the step of displaying comprises the steps of: 
 e1) invoking a display tool capable of displaying the modified electronic document; and    e2) displaying the modified electronic document using the display tool.    
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the step of invoking the display tool comprises the step of invoking a Web browser.  
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising, before the step of sending, the steps of: 
 f) storing the first electronic document in a memory device associated with the author computer;    g) retrieving the first electronic document from the memory device; and    h) allowing the author to further specify information within the first electronic document.    
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising, before the step of receiving the document authoring page, the steps of: 
 f) determining whether the author is qualified to access the document authoring page;    g) if the author is qualified, allowing the author to access the document authoring page; and    h) if the author is not qualified, not allowing the author to access the document authoring page.    
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the step of determining comprises the steps of: 
 f1) prompting the author to choose between options of inputting a previously-assigned password and obtaining a new password;    f2) if the author selects an option of obtaining a new password, performing the steps of 
 prompting the author for author data and submitting the author data to the developer system, and  
 if the developer system indicates that the author is qualified, receiving a password from the developer system, notifying the author of the password, and  
 allowing the author to access the document authoring page, and  
 if the developer system indicates that the author is not qualified, receiving an indication from the developer system that the author is not qualified, notifying the author of the indication, and not allowing the author to access the document authoring page; and  
   f3) if the author selects an option of inputting a previously-assigned password, performing the steps of 
 sending the previously-assigned password to the developer system,  
 if the developer system indicates that the author is qualified, allowing the author to access the document authoring page, and  
 if the developer system indicates that the author is not qualified, not allowing the author to access the document authoring page.  
   
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising before the step of receiving the document authoring page, the steps of: 
 f) prompting the author for an author's e-mail address;    g) submitting the author's e-mail address to the developer system; and    h) if the author's e-mail address is legitimate, receiving an auto-response from the developer system as a result of performing the submitting step.    
     
     
         12 . A method for developing a network-accessible electronic document, the method performed by a developer system, the method comprising the steps of: 
 a) providing, by the developer system, a document authoring page in an electronic format over a first network to an author computer that is separate from the developer system;    b) receiving, by a developer computer within the developer system, a first electronic document from the author computer, wherein the first electronic document includes author-specified information specified by an author of the first electronic document, and the first electronic document was created using the document authoring page;    c) displaying, by the developer computer, a graphical display defined by the first electronic document;    d) modifying the first electronic document to include additional information, wherein the additional information is specified by a developer of the first electronic document, and the modifying step results in a modified electronic document; and    e) sending the modified electronic document across the first network to the author computer.    
     
     
         13 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the step of receiving comprises the step of receiving a hypertext document.  
     
     
         14 . The method as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein the step of receiving comprises the step of receiving the hypertext document via e-mail over an Internet.  
     
     
         15 . The method as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein the step of modifying the document includes the steps of: 
 d1) modifying content of the first electronic document in accordance with developer-specified information; and    d2) adding markup to the first electronic document in accordance with the developer-specified information.    
     
     
         16 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the step of displaying comprises the steps of: 
 c1) invoking a display tool capable of displaying the first electronic document; and    c2) displaying the first electronic document using the display tool.    
     
     
         17 . The method as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the step of invoking the display tool comprises the step of invoking a Web browser.  
     
     
         18 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the step of sending the modified electronic document comprises the steps of: 
 e1) receiving a request from the developer to send the modified electronic document; and    e2) as a result of the receiving the request step, sending the modified electronic document over an Internet.    
     
     
         19 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the modified electronic document is a hypertext document describing a Web page, and the method further comprises the step of posting the modified electronic document to a server computer.  
     
     
         20 . The method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein the step of posting comprises the step of posting the modified electronic document to a server computer that is part of the developer system.  
     
     
         21 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , further comprising, before the step of providing, the steps of: 
 f) determining, by the developer system, whether the author is qualified to access the document authoring page;    g) if the author is qualified, allowing the author to access the document authoring page; and    h) if the author is not qualified, not allowing the author to access the document authoring page.    
     
     
         22 . The method as claimed in  claim 12 , further comprising before the step of providing, the steps of: 
 f) receiving, from the author computer, an author's e-mail address;    g) sending an auto-response message to the author's e-mail address; and    h) if the developer system receives an indication that the auto-response message is not deliverable to the author's e-mail address, not performing steps a-e.