Design engine for automatic reformatting for design and media

摘要

A three-way separation of information in a document includes content, design and media aspects. This division supports automatic rendering to multiple forms of media such as print, Intranet, Internet, and OLE embedding. A method changes the design of a composition having a current design that is rendered in a particular medium. The composition is represented by components in a current design tree and includes content elements associated with the components. A new design tree is created for the composition based upon a new design and new design components. Next, each of the content elements are linked into an association with one of the new design components such that the set of relationships between the content elements in the context of the new design are maintained. Media layout values are calculated for each content element of the composition. The content elements are laid out in the new design and the new design retains the composition rendered in the particular medium. Another method changes the medium of a composition having a current design. A new media tree is created for the composition that is representative of a new medium and includes media tree components. Next, each of the content elements is associated with one of the media tree components such that each of the content elements is associated with a region of the new medium. Media layout values are calculated for each content element of the composition such that each of the media layout values for each content element defines one of the regions of the new medium.