System and method for integrating a document into a desktop window on a client computer

A method for displaying a hyperlinkable document in a desktop window in a windowing environment on a client computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• connecting to a first server computer;
• retrieving a channel guide that includes a list of content providers from the first server computer, the channel guide for allowing a user to select one or more content providers from the list and wherein multiple content providers may appear selected at the same time;
• storing the selections that the user made from the list of content providers;
• reading the stored selections and obtaining an address associated with a second server computer from the stored selections;
• connecting to the second server computer associated with a user-selected content provider in the channel guide by using the address obtained from reading the stored selections;
• and
• retrieving a document having a hyperlink embedded therein from the second server computer.

A method of displaying a hyperlinkable document in a windowing environment on a client computer when the computer is left idle for a predetermined period of time, the method comprising the steps of:

• connecting to a computer network from the client computer;
• retrieving a channel guide of content providers from the computer network for allowing a user to select one or more content providers;
• storing selections made by the user from the channel guide including storing addresses of content providers;
• obtaining an address of a content provider from the stored selections;
• reading a first document from a selected content provider by using the address obtained from the stored selections, the first document having a hyperlink embedded therein and integrating the first document into the desktop window on the client computer;
• after the client computer is left idle a predetermined period of time, overlaying the first document over other windows in the windowing environment.

A computer system, comprising:

• a client computer having a display for displaying a windowing environment including a desktop window with a first pane for displaying content having hyperlinks and a second pane for displaying desktop icons unrelated to the content;
• a channel guide for displaying a list of content providers on the client computer display, the content providers providing content having hyperlinks embedded therein from a plurality of server computers connectable to the client computer;
• a user-preference storage on the client computer for storing information associated with content providers selected from the channel guide;
• means for retrieving content having hyperlinks embedded therein from the plurality of server computers and displaying the content in the first pane of the desktop window on the client computer display.

A method for displaying a hyperlinkable document in a windowing environment on a client computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• connecting to a computer network from the client computer, the computer network having a plurality of server computers associated with a plurality of content providers;
• retrieving a channel guide from one of the server computers, the channel guide including a list of content providers with check boxes associated therewith so that a user can select multiple content providers while continually viewing the channel guide;
• storing addresses associated with at least first and second content providers that the user selected from the channel guide;
• without any user input, automatically reading the stored address for the first content provider and retrieving a first document from the first content provider on a first server computer;
• displaying the first document on the client computer;
• waiting a predetermined period of time sufficiently long so that the user can view the first document;
• without any user input, automatically reading the stored address for the second content provider and retrieving a second document from the second content provider on a second server computer;
• and
• automatically displaying the second document on the client computer.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

• connecting to a computer network from the client computer, the computer network having a plurality of server computers associated with a plurality of content providers;
• retrieving a channel guide including a list of content providers from the computer network and check boxes associated with each content provider for allowing a user to select and deselect one or more content providers, wherein the channel guide remains displayed after the user selects a content provider so that the user can select multiple content providers from the channel guide, the channel guide allowing multiple check boxes to remain selected even if the user selects other check boxes;
• and
• integrating a first document received from a server computer of at least one user-selected content provider into the desktop window so that the first document and the desktop window are displayed in the same window.

A computer system for viewing Internet documents provided from two or more server computers, comprising:

• a client computer having a display for displaying a windowing environment including a desktop window that displays icons related to applications;
• a viewer integrated into the desktop window on the display for displaying Internet documents in the same window as the desktop window;
• and
• a channel guide that includes a list of content providers and check boxes adjacent each content provider, the check boxes indicating whether a user selected one or more content providers from the list wherein multiple check boxes can remain selected at the same time and wherein by selecting the content providers the user customizes content displayed in the viewer which is provided by the two or more server computers.

A method for displaying a document in a desktop window on a client computer, the method comprising the steps of.

• (a) connecting to a computer network from the client computer, the computer network having a plurality of server computers associated with a plurality of content providers;
• (b) retrieving a channel guide including a list of content providers from the computer network for allowing a user to select one or more content providers and one or more stories associated with the content providers;
• (c) storing the selections that the user made from the channel guide;
• (d) reading the stored selections and obtaining an address associated with one of the selected stories;
• (e) retrieving the selected story from the content provider;
• (f) integrating the retrieved story into the desktop window to display the story to the user;
• and
• (g) automatically repeating (d) through (f) to provide an effect of automatically scrolling through the stories selected in the channel guide.