Abstract: This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer program products for authoring content for digital books. In some implementations, a single graphical user interface (GUI) is presented that allows an author to design a layout for the digital book, including editing text and inserting various types of interactive elements in the text. The GUI functions as both a digital book layout design tool and a word processor to facilitate the building of a digital book. The relative page location of inserted widgets can be determined by a user-selectable anchor point placed within the text. An outline view of the digital book can be created and presented in the GUI based on a hierarchical structure determined by paragraph styles applied to the text. The GUI can provide a hybrid glossary and index page for allowing the author to create and manage a glossary and index for the digital book.

Abstract: A system for authoring, publishing, and distribution of electronic documents is provided. The system includes a content authoring and publishing application to author and publish electronic documents, a content distribution system to distribute electronic documents, and a set of user devices that include digital content viewing applications that are used to read the electronic documents. The content authoring and publishing application is used to author and publish high-resolution versions of electronic documents. The high-resolution version of each document is associated with a set of annotations for each high-resolution image in the document. The annotations allow an electronic document thinning tool in the content distribution system to create a low-resolution version of each image and generate a low-resolution version of the electronic document without receiving low-resolution images from the author of the document.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein provide a content publishing tool for publishing documents to a content distribution system. The content publishing tool in some embodiments guides the application's user through different operations in preparing a document for publication. In some embodiments, these operations include one or more of the following: (1) analyzing the document for errors, (2) specifying a version number for the document, (3) creating a sample document, and (4) exporting the document for publication.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a novel operation for aligning a symbol with an associated character in a digital content processing application. In some embodiments, the alignment operation uses a font property of the character to align the symbol with the character. In some embodiments, the character has a slanted display orientation and the font property is an angle at which the character is slanted. Symbols that are associated with characters include diacritical marks, accents, mathematical symbols that align above or below a character, and other symbols of the character. The character, sometimes referred to as a “base character”, may be a character in text, in an equation, etc.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein provide a content publishing tool for publishing documents to a content distribution system. The content publishing tool in some embodiments guides the application's user through different operations in preparing a document for publication. In some embodiments, these operations include one or more of the following: (1) analyzing the document for errors, (2) specifying a version number for the document, (3) creating a sample document, and (4) exporting the document for publication.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for providing an application canvas framework which facilitates the manipulation of text and graphics within a web browser. During operation, the system receives a command from a user at a web browser to execute a web-based application. In response to the command, the system loads the web-based application which includes an application canvas framework within the web browser, wherein the application canvas framework provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that facilitates the manipulation of text and graphics within the web browser. Note that the application canvas framework can be browser independent and/or platform independent.

Abstract: A content processing application that implements a method for displaying characters at least a threshold distance apart. The method receives two consecutive characters. The method automatically identifies a distance between the two consecutive characters and moves at least one of the two consecutive characters to adjust the distance between the two consecutive characters to a threshold distance apart.

Abstract: A method and system for extending characters. The method automatically identifies sections of a character to elongate and sections of the character to not elongate. The method moves the sections of the character that are not to be elongated and elongates the sections that are to be elongated. The sections to be elongated are those sections of the character that are parallel to an axis for extending the character.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein provide a content publishing tool that includes a document-sampling tool for generating a sample document from a full-length document. In some embodiments, the document-sampling tool allows a publisher to identify a section of a document and generate a sample document that includes a selection of pages from that section. The sample document may be generated using a predefined percentage of the pages of the section up to a maximum of a predefined number of pages. The heuristics of the sample generation may also specify that the sample document include a minimum of some number of pages.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a content processing application with a novel annotation migration operation that allows the application to automatically migrate annotations from a first version of content such as a document to a second version of the content. Examples of such annotations include user-specified notes, highlights, bookmarks, and/or other annotations. The content processing application examines different sets of content segments in the second version to identify a particular set of content segments that matches a first set of content segments in the first version associated with a particular annotation. Upon identifying a matching particular set of content segments, the content processing application associates the particular annotation with the particular set of content segments in the second version. The content processing application can then provide a presentation of the second version with the particular annotation for the matching particular set of content segments.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein provide a content publishing tool that includes a versioning tool for specifying whether a document is a new document or an updated version of a document that has been published with the content distribution system. The versioning tool of some embodiments includes a field to input version information, such as version number, issue number, and edition information. In some embodiments, the versioning tool identifies documents that the user previously published with a content distribution system, and presents the documents in a list. The application's user can then choose, from the list, a published document that is being updated.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein provide a content publishing tool for publishing documents to a content distribution system. The content publishing tool in some embodiments guides the application's user through different operations in preparing a document for publication. In some embodiments, these operations include one or more of the following: (1) analyzing the document for errors, (2) specifying a version number for the document, (3) creating a sample document, and (4) exporting the document for publication.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores a document authoring application which when executed by at least one processing unit provides a graphical user interface (“GUI”) for the document authoring application. The GUI includes a display area for displaying a document being authored. The GUI also includes a document authoring tool for adding to the document a floatable content control. The floatable content control includes (1) a content display area for displaying content specified for the floatable content control and (2) a selectable user interface item (UI) that when selected causes the document authoring application to display the content display area. The floatable content control for display by a document viewing application such that the document viewing application displays the specified content through the content display area when the document viewing application receives a selection of the UI item.

Abstract: A content presentations editing application for editing a structured electronic document that includes mathematical objects is provided. The content presentation editing application selects a portion of the document, the selected portion including at least one mathematical object. The content presentation editing application centers the selected portion of the document by identifying an alignment symbol in the mathematical object and aligning the mathematical object to a particular position in the document at the identified alignment symbol. To align the mathematical object, some embodiments move the mathematical object such that the alignment symbol is at the center of the page. For mathematical objects that are located within cells of a table, the center alignment operation moves each mathematical object in the table such that the identified alignment symbol aligns with the center of the table column that contains the mathematical object.

Abstract: A content processing application that implements a method for displaying characters at least a threshold distance apart. The method receives two consecutive characters. The method automatically identifies a distance between the two consecutive characters and moves at least one of the two consecutive characters to adjust the distance between the two consecutive characters to a threshold distance apart.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a novel operation for aligning a symbol with an associated character in a digital content processing application. In some embodiments, the alignment operation uses a font property of the character to align the symbol with the character. In some embodiments, the character has a slanted display orientation and the font property is an angle at which the character is slanted. Symbols that are associated with characters include diacritical marks, accents, mathematical symbols that align above or below a character, and other symbols of the character. The character, sometimes referred to as a “base character”, may be a character in text, in an equation, etc.

Abstract: A system for authoring, publishing, and distribution of electronic documents is provided. The system includes a content authoring and publishing application to author and publish electronic documents, a content distribution system to distribute electronic documents, and a set of user devices that include digital content viewing applications that are used to read the electronic documents. The content authoring and publishing application is used to author and publish high-resolution versions of electronic documents. The high-resolution version of each document is associated with a set of annotations for each high-resolution image in the document. The annotations allow an electronic document thinning tool in the content distribution system to create a low-resolution version of each image and generate a low-resolution version of the electronic document without receiving low-resolution images from the author of the document.

Abstract: A method and system for extending characters. The method automatically identifies sections of a character to elongate and sections of the character to not elongate. The method moves the sections of the character that are not to be elongated and elongates the sections that are to be elongated. The sections to be elongated are those sections of the character that are parallel to an axis for extending the character.

Abstract: This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer program products for authoring content for digital books. In some implementations, a single graphical user interface (GUI) is presented that allows an author to design a layout for the digital book, including editing text and inserting various types of interactive elements in the text. The GUI functions as both a digital book layout design tool and a word processor to facilitate the building of a digital book. The relative page location of inserted widgets can be determined by a user-selectable anchor point placed within the text. An outline view of the digital book can be created and presented in the GUI based on a hierarchical structure determined by paragraph styles applied to the text. The GUI can provide a hybrid glossary and index page for allowing the author to create and manage a glossary and index for the digital book.

Abstract: Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that typesets and renders a document in a platform-independent manner. During operation, the system first obtains the document, wherein the document includes text content and associated style information including one or more fonts. The system also obtains platform-independent font metrics for the one or more fonts, wherein the platform-independent font metrics include information that can be used to determine the positions of individual characters in a rendering of the document. Next, the system uses the platform-independent font metrics to determine how the document is divided into line fragments and pages. Finally, the system uses the determined division while rendering the document, so that the division of the document into line fragments and pages is the same across different computing platforms.