Adaptive User Interface for a Multimedia Creative Design System

Abstract

A method includes receiving a page based graphical application having multiple elements on a page, defining a page based hierarchical view of the application and converting the page based hierarchical view to a linear hierarchical view.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method implementable on a computing device, the method comprising:
 receiving a page based graphical application having multiple elements on a page;   defining a page based hierarchical view of said application; and   converting said page based hierarchical view to a linear hierarchical view.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein said defining comprises:
 analyzing each page of said graphical application to determine components within said page. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  where said converting comprises:
 if said component is a container containing other components, indexing said components therein based on a pre-defined property or property combination of said components; 
 associating each said container with a menu; and 
 building a linear hierarchy with said menus. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein said graphical application is one of a website, a catalog and an e-shop. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein said linear hierarchical view is rebuilt whenever a user switches between said linear hierarchical view and said page based hierarchical view. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein said views have component property sheets and wherein said linear hierarchical view has a simplified component property sheet. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 2  wherein said determining comprises filtering said components for relevance. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 2  wherein said analyzing comprises scanning a single page at a time. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 2  wherein said analyzing comprises scanning multiple page groups at a time. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8  wherein said scanning does not scan non-container components. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein said scanning does not scan non-container components. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 3  wherein said pre-defined property is a geometrical metric of the relationship between two or more components. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein said geometrical metric is proximity. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein said geometrical metric is adjacency. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 3  wherein said pre-defined property is at least one of component age, component type, component inheritance history, component size, component shape and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 3  wherein said pre-defined property is at least one of component z-order, component use within said application, component formatting information, component content, component native reading order, inter-page component association, user-defined hints and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         17 . An express mode generator implementable on a computing device comprising:
 a receiver to receive a page based graphical application having multiple elements on a page and to define a page based hierarchical view of said application; and   a converter to convert said page based hierarchical view to a linear hierarchical view.   
     
     
         18 . The express mode generator according to  claim 17  wherein said receiver comprises:
 an analyzer to analyze each page of said graphical application to determine components within said page. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 17  where said converting comprises:
 if said component is a container containing other components, an indexer to index said components therein based on a pre-defined property or property combination of said components; and 
 a builder to associate each said container with a menu and to build a linear hierarchy with said menus. 
 
     
     
         20 . The express mode generator according to  claim 17  wherein said graphical application is one of a website, a catalog and an e-shop. 
     
     
         21 . The express mode generator according to  claim 17  wherein said a linear hierarchical view is rebuilt whenever a user switches between said linear hierarchical view and said page based hierarchical view. 
     
     
         22 . The express mode generator according to  claim 17  wherein said views have component property sheets and wherein said linear hierarchical view has a simplified component property sheet. 
     
     
         23 . The express mode generator according to  claim 18  wherein said determining comprises filtering said components for relevance. 
     
     
         24 . The express mode generator according to  claim 18  wherein said analyzing comprises scanning a single page at a time. 
     
     
         25 . The express mode generator according to  claim 18  wherein said analyzing comprises scanning multiple page groups at a time. 
     
     
         26 . The express mode generator according to  claim 24  wherein said scanning does not scan non-container components. 
     
     
         27 . The express mode generator according to  claim 25  wherein said scanning does not scan non-container components. 
     
     
         28 . The express mode generator according to  claim 19  wherein said pre-defined property is a geometrical metric of the relationship between two or more components. 
     
     
         29 . The express mode generator according to  claim 28  wherein said geometrical metric is proximity. 
     
     
         30 . The express mode generator according to  claim 28  wherein said geometrical metric is adjacency. 
     
     
         31 . The express mode generator according to  claim 19  wherein said pre-defined property is at least one of component age, component type, component inheritance history, component size, component shape and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         32 . The express mode generator according to  claim 19  wherein said pre-defined property is at least one of component z-order, component use within said application, component formatting information, component content, component native reading order, inter-page component association, user-defined hints and any combination thereof.