Systems and Methods for Providing an Internet Browser Zoom Function

Abstract

Methods are described to preload and display a plurality of webpages from a hyperlink list either previously saved or returned by one or more search engines, where said webpages are displayed in a web browser. The web browser has been augmented to display multiple webpages simultaneously and to allow changing the number of webpages displayed and their physical arrangement within the web browser display. Hyperlinks associated with any portion of this plurality of webpages can be saved as a list of hyperlinks (group bookmark) for later retrieval. Preloading may be dynamically altered to take advantage of network bandwidth availability and processor non-saturation. Descendant webpages of preloaded webpages may also be preloaded to further speed performance. The zoom factor for a displayed webpage may be altered by clicking on a zoom icon or alternately rotating a mouse wheel while the cursor is held over the zoom icon.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computerized method for operating zoom and group bookmarking functions in a web browser concurrently connected to a plurality of website domains via a network, the computerized method comprising:
 loading, by the web browser, in a web browser instance, a plurality of webpages comprising text and image content, each webpage corresponding to a website from the plurality of website domains to which the browser is concurrently connected;   receiving a user indication of a selection of a given webpage, from among the plurality of webpages, and in response to receipt of such indication, causing the web browser to display the selected webpage in an active window of the web browser instance;   displaying a zoom icon in a web browser display, wherein said zoom icon directly controls a zoom function for the selected webpage displayed in the active window of the web browser, wherein appearance of the zoom icon indicates a current zoom factor for said webpage;   receiving a user indication of a selection of said zoom icon and, in response to receipt of such indication causing the web browser to perform the following actions for the selected webpage displayed in the active window of the web browser:
 change the current zoom factor for the selected webpage displayed in the active window without altering another of said plurality of webpages; and 
 change appearance of the zoom icon to indicate the changed zoom factor for said selected webpage; 
   wherein changing the zoom factor enlarges or makes smaller the selected webpage displayed in the active window without altering another of said plurality of webpages;   displaying a selectable group bookmark icon in the web browser display, wherein said group bookmark icon controls a group bookmarking function for the plurality of webpages associated with the plurality of website domains to which the browser is concurrently connected;   receiving a user indication of a selection of said group bookmark icon and, in response to receipt of such indication, causing the web browser to perform the following actions:
 generate a group bookmark comprising a data structure storing at least the plurality of uniform resource locators associated with the plurality of website domains to which the web browser is concurrently connected; and 
 save the generated group bookmark in memory.