A component Architecture for cross-media formatters

Abstract

We describe the design and implementation of an extensible document formatter whose architecture consists of components for formatting tasks and of a framework for managing the components. The system aims to facilitate a seamless integration of new formatting functions, presentation media, and interaction methods. It works on so-called design structures that represent a generically-coded document after a design specification has been applied. A design structure is a hierarchy of highly specialized interacting layout objects, each of which encapsulates a formatting task. In order to use an instance of a layout object class in a design structure, the layout object class has to be plugged into the formatter framework. The formatter framework accepts any layout object class that adheres to a welldefined interface specification.