Automatic temporal layout mechanisms revisited

Abstract

A traditional static document has a spatial layout that specifies where objects in the document appear. Because multimedia documents incorporate time, they also require a temporal layout, or schedule, that specifies when events in the document occur. This article argues that multimedia document systems should provide mechanisms for automatically producing temporal layouts for documents. The major advantage of this approach is that it makes it easier for authors to create and modify multimedia documents.This article revisits our 1993 framework for understanding automatic temporal formatters and explores the basic issues surrounding them. It also describes the Firefly multimedia document system, which was developed in 1992 to test the potential of automatic temporal formatting. Using our original framework, the paper reviews a representative sample of recent automatic document formatters. This analysis validates the basic framework and demonstrates the progress of the field in the intervening decade. A discussion of potential extensions to the framework is included.