Method and an apparatus for displaying sections of web pages in multiple modes

Abstract

A method and an apparatus is provided for managing a set of expansion icons and associated information so that the user can selectively open and close expansion icons with a minimum of network bandwidth. In a preferred embodiment, an expansion flag and the information location is maintained for each expansion icon and information is downloaded on an “on demand” basis. Once an item has been opened and the information downloaded, the information location is changed to a local memory address. The associated information may be in a variety of multimedia formats, including text, URLs, audio, video, or picture information. It is possible to open several expansion icons at the same time while keeping other icons closed. When an expansion icon is closed, the expansion flag is set to false and information location is reset to a server location. In an alternative embodiment, all of the information associated with the expansion icons is downloaded at the time the web page is accessed. Opening and closing icons after this initial download is based on information stored in local memory. In either embodiment, even time an expansion icon is changed, the system scans through all expansion icons and for those with an expansion flag set to true, uses the associated information location to display the additional information.