Web document annotation service

A system of annotating web content, comprising:

• a hardware processor communicatively coupled to a communication network;
• a web browser component executing on the hardware processor cooperatively with a web browser, and operable to detect navigation to a web site for content and the content loaded on the web browser,
• the web browser component further operable to transmit a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the web site over the communication network to a computer-implemented service that stores annotations to the content separate from the web site that is providing the content,
• the web browser component further operable to receive from the computer-implemented service one or more annotations to the content,
• wherein the annotations is displayed within the content loaded within a display window of the web browser within the content loaded on the web browser,
• wherein the annotations to the content comprises at least a discussion that occurred between users regarding the content,
• wherein the one or more annotations received from the computer-implemented service comprises a first hash associated with a whole body of the content and a second hash associated with a portion of the content being changed with the annotations, changes with annotations invalidated based on the first hash and the second hash,
• wherein the one or more annotations received from the computer-implemented service comprises a data string comprising the URL, a data array comprising a character position within the content and an array of changes at the character position,
• wherein the web browser component orders the changes by the character position, scans the content and applies the changes to the content at the character position to render the one or more annotations within the content from the web site.

A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of annotating web content, the method comprising:

• detecting navigation to a web site for content on a web browser and the content loaded on the web browser;
• transmitting a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the web site to a computer-implemented service that stores annotations to the content separate from the web site that is providing the content;
• receiving from the computer-implemented service one or more annotations to the content;
• and
• displaying within a display window of the web browser, the annotations within the content loaded on the web browser,
• wherein the annotations to the content comprises at least a discussion that occurred between users regarding the content,
• wherein the one or more annotations received from the computer-implemented service comprises a first hash associated with a whole body of the content and a second hash associated with a portion of the content being changed with the annotations, changes with annotations invalidated based on the first hash and the second hash,
• wherein the one or more annotations received from the computer-implemented service comprises a data string comprising the URL, a data array comprising a character position within the content and an array of changes at the character position,
• wherein the changes are ordered by the character position, the content is scanned and the changes are applied to the content at the character position to render the one or more annotations within the content from the web site.