System and method for dynamically generating viewable graphics

A screen display for publishing a document within collaboration space, comprising:

• a work area;
• a side bar;
• said side bar including a layout button;
• said work area, responsive to selection of said layout button, being operable for receiving a title for display in said side bar as a graphic, and for receiving text and graphics for display in said work area.

A system for publishing a document within collaboration space, comprising:

• a graphics server;
• a screen display including a work area, a side bar including a layout button, and an action bar including insert graphic, publish, cancel, and done buttons;
• said graphics server being operable responsive to user selection of said layout button for receiving in said work area a title for display in said side bar and for entering edit mode;
• said graphics server being operable in edit mode for receiving in said work area textual content and aesthetic parameters for said document;
• said graphics server being operable in response to selection of said insert graphic button for presenting in said work area a create graphic display for user selection of aesthetic parameters for an image;
• said graphics server being operable in response to user selection of said done button while in said create graphic display for creating and saving said aesthetic parameters and displaying said image in said work area in edit mode;
• and
• said graphics server being operable in response to user selection of said publish button for serving said document to said work area in published mode.

A method for serving an image to a browser screen, comprising the steps of:

• maintaining a cache of cached images;
• maintaining a data base of default parameters;
• receiving a graphic request locator;
• hashing said graphic request locator to form a string number;
• examining cache for a cached image with a matching string number, and if found, serving said cached image to said browser screen;
• and, if not found, parsing said graphic request locator for graphic parameters and constructing from said graphic parameters and selectively from said default parameters a reconstructed image for serving to said browser.

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for serving an image to a browser screen, said method steps comprising:

• maintaining a cache of cached images;
• maintaining a data base of default parameters;
• receiving a graphic request locator;
• hashing said graphic request locator to form a string number;
• examining cache for a cached image with a matching string number, and if found, serving said cached image to said browser screen;
• and, if not found, parsing said graphic request locator for graphic parameters and constructing from said graphic parameters and selectively from said default parameters a reconstructed image for serving to said browser.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer useable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for serving an image to a browser screen, the computer readable program means in said article of manufacture comprising:
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect maintaining a cache of cached images;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect maintaining a data base of default parameters;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect receiving a graphic request locator;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect hashing said graphic request locator to form a string number;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect examining cache for a cached image with a matching string number, and if found, serving said cached image to said browser screen;
• and, if not found, parsing said graphic request locator for graphic parameters and constructing from said graphic parameters and selectively from said default parameters a reconstructed image for serving to said browser.

A computer program product or computer program element for serving an image to a browser screen according to the steps of:

• maintaining a cache of cached images;
• maintaining a data base of default parameters;
• receiving a graphic request locator;
• hashing said graphic request locator to form a string number;
• examining cache for a cached image with a matching string number, and if found, serving said cached image to said browser screen;
• and, if not found, parsing said graphic request locator for graphic parameters and constructing from said graphic parameters and selectively from said default parameters a reconstructed image for serving to said browser.