Network-aware structured content downloads

A system, comprising:

• a communication module;
• and
• a processor programmed to:
• receive, via the communication module over a first network connection, a request for content from a client device, where the content comprises a plurality of portions represented within a root document and individual portions of the content are configurable within the root document with syntactically assigned download constraints that specify network characteristics under which the individual portions of the content are downloadable;
• determine to defer at least one portion of the content of the root document for download via a network connection other than the first network connection based upon a network characteristic of the first network connection not satisfying a configured download constraint syntactically assigned within the root document to the at least one portion of the content;
• and
• send the root document with each deferred portion of the content removed from the root document and replaced with a content stub within the root document, where each content stub within the root document syntactically identifies the respective deferred portion of the content as a deferred content portion and comprises a deferred content portion identifier of the respective deferred content portion.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, where the computer readable program code when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
• receive, via a first network connection, a request for content from a client device, where the content comprises a plurality of portions represented within a root document and individual portions of the content are configurable within the root document with syntactically assigned download constraints that specify network characteristics under which the individual portions of the content are downloadable;
• determine to defer at least one portion of the content of the root document for download via a network connection other than the first network connection based upon a network characteristic of the first network connection not satisfying a configured download constraint syntactically assigned within the root document to the at least one portion of the content;
• and
• send the root document with each deferred portion of the content removed from the root document and replaced with a content stub within the root document, where each content stub within the root document syntactically identifies the respective deferred portion of the content as a deferred content portion and comprises a deferred content portion identifier of the respective deferred content portion.