Synthetic Navigation Elements for Electronic Documents

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for managing the display of items in a web-based document application includes providing an electronic document that includes a plurality of content items, anchoring a plurality of base layers to different discrete positions of the electronic document, and anchoring ones of the plurality of content items to particular ones of the base layers so that when the spreadsheet is scrolled an a computer display, the content items move with the spreadsheet by virtue of the anchoring of the content items to the base layers and the anchoring of the base layers to the spreadsheet.

1 . A computer-implemented method of positioning one or more rich content objects in an electronic document when a user scrolls in the document, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a computer system, user input to scroll through an electronic document displayed by a browser;   accessing, by the computer system, a portion of a model of the electronic document based on the user input;   identifying, by the computer system, one or more cover layers that overlap the accessed portion of the model of the electronic document;   associating, by the computer system, each cover layer with a corresponding anchor location in a view of the document to be displayed by the browser;   identifying, by the computer system, one or more rich content objects on each cover layer;   deriving, by the computer system, a respective location for each rich content object with respect to the view of the document to be displayed by the browser; and   rendering, by the computer system, the accessed portion of the electronic document and the one or more rich content objects to a document object model for the browser.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein each of a plurality of cover layers is associated with a respective sub-area of the document, the method including determining, by the computer system, which cover layers overlap with the accessed portion of the model of the electronic document. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein each anchor location corresponds to a corner of an area covered by the corresponding cover layer 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein each cover layer covers an entire sub-area to which it is assigned and is generated as a transparent element. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein deriving a respective location for each rich content object includes generating an absolute location for each object on the electronic document. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5  wherein generating an absolute location for each object includes adding a relative location of the object compared to an anchor point for the corresponding cover layer to a relative location of the anchor point. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein the electronic document is a spreadsheet. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 7  wherein rendering the accessed portion of the electronic document to the document object model includes:
 generating a table; 
 populating the table with content from the model of the-electronic document by performing calculations in the cells of the spreadsheet to generate HTML data for the cells; and 
 providing the HTML data to the document object model. 
 
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented method of rendering an electronic spreadsheet model as a user scrolls within the model, the method comprising:
 receiving user input to scroll through an electronic spreadsheet, a portion of which is displayed on a viewport;   retrieving from a server system a subset of modeling information for the electronic spreadsheet based on the user input;   identifying a portion of the modeling information that is within a buffer area surrounding the viewport;   rendering content in the buffer area into a document object model;   rendering one or more objects on cover layers associated with the subset of the modeling information into the document object model; and   updating the viewport to display the content and the one or more objects.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9  wherein the modeling information represents a model stored at a central server system, wherein a subsection of that model is downloaded to a client device, and a subsection of the subsection is rendered into the document object model. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9  wherein the buffer is an area a certain distance around the viewport. 
     
     
         12 . The-computer-implemented method of  claim 9  wherein, prior to retrieving the subset of modeling information, the method further includes checking whether scrolling in response to the user input maintains the viewport within the buffer area. 
     
     
         13 . One or more tangible computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:
 accessing a portion of a model of an electronic document, displayed by a browser, in response to receiving user input to scroll through the electronic document;   identifying one or more cover layers that overlap the accessed portion of the model of the electronic document;   associating each cover layer with a corresponding anchor location in a view of the document to be displayed by the browser;   identifying one or more rich content objects on each cover layer;   deriving a respective location for each rich content object with respect to the view of the document to be displayed by the browser; and   rendering the accessed portion of the electronic document and the one or more rich content objects to a document object model for the browser.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13  wherein each of a plurality of cover layers is associated with a respective sub-area of the document, and wherein the operations include determining which cover layers overlap with the accessed portion of the model of the electronic document. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13  wherein each anchor location corresponds to a corner of an area covered by the corresponding cover layer 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13  wherein each cover layer covers an entire sub-area to which it is assigned and is generated as a transparent element. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13  wherein the operations include generating an absolute location for each object on the electronic document. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable media of  claim 17  wherein the operations include adding a relative location of the object compared to an anchor point for the corresponding cover layer to a relative location of the anchor point. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13  wherein the electronic document is a spreadsheet. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable media of  claim 19  wherein the operations include:
 generating a table; 
 populating the table with content from the model of the electronic document by performing calculations in the cells of the spreadsheet to generate HTML data for the cells; and 
 providing the HTML data to the document object model. 
 
     
     
         21 . One or more tangible computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:
 retrieving from a server system a subset of modeling information for an electronic spreadsheet in response to receiving user input to scroll through the electronic spreadsheet, a portion of which is displayed on a viewport;   identifying a portion of the modeling information that is within a buffer area surrounding the viewport;   rendering content in the buffer area into a document object model;   rendering one or more objects on cover layers associated with the subset of the modeling information into the document object model; and   updating the viewport to display the content and the one or more objects.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable media of  claim 21  wherein the modeling information represents a model stored at a central server system, wherein a subsection of that model is downloaded to a client device, and a subsection of the subsection is rendered into the document object model. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable media of  claim 21  wherein the buffer is an area a certain distance around the viewport. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable media of  claim 21  wherein the operations include checking, prior to retrieving the subset of modeling information, whether scrolling in response to the user input maintains the viewport within the buffer area.