Patent ID: 7519915

Claim:
A method for generating a user interface, comprising: responsive to user request, presenting at a browser interface a plurality of predefined user interface themes, each said theme including a cascading style sheet and a predetermined set of layout files, with a layout file for each of a plurality of view modes of operation, each said layout file specifying content and layout of a plurality of skin components, said cascading style sheet including a common style sheet and a skin style sheet, said common style sheet specifying font, size and color style for said skin components common to each of said view modes of operation; responsive to end user selection, instantiating a skin by applying a user selected theme to said user interface including a customize theme selector; responsive to said user selecting said customize theme selector and modifying data source and formatting logic including changes to specific classes of said common style sheet for said user selected theme, building in a text file said data source and formatting logic; feeding said changes to said common style sheet; and uploading said theme to said collaboration space; binding said text file to said skin; responsive to command from said end user, dynamically uploading said skin from a user terminal to a place server; processing and storing said skin in a place database; responsive to end user request, selecting and rendering said user interface in accordance with said skin; and said interface logic including an object oriented class for retrieving extensible markup language for processing said skin component, and further including an extensible style sheet language markup.