PART
2
Customizing and Automating
3. Rewriting the Web with Chickenfoot
4. A goal-oriented Web browser
5. Collaborative scripting for the Web
6. Highlight: End user re-authoring of existing Web sites
In this section we look at five systems that customize and automate the Web experience in different ways. Chickenfoot proposes a scripting interface for controlling and augmenting Web page interfaces, making it possible to modify any bookstore page with local library book availability information. Creo and Miro leverage a vast knowledge base to generate personalized semantic hypertext, like dynamically linking the names of foods to their nutritional information. CoScripter helps knowledge workers collaboratively automate repetitive tasks, such as ordering office supplies. Highlight lets users create a mobile version of any Web site, whereas Atomate makes it possible to quickly set up contextualized reminders for a task.
There are many similarities and differences between these systems. Chickenfoot, CoScripter, and Atomate all aim to simplify the underlying Web scripting language (i.e., JavaScript) by introducing keyword-based scripting languages that can be both read by a machine and understood by a human. CoScripter, Highlight, and Creo use a programming by example approach that lets users demonstrate the type of automation they would like to script. Highlight enables users to clip parts of Web pages as part of a demonstration, whereas Creo leverages a large knowledge base of semantic information to generate a script from a single demonstration. CoScripter also explores the social component of end user programming through sharing and reuse with a wiki. The Atomate system proposes that programming by example is not only valuable in automating information gathering and procedural tasks but also in personal information management tasks, such as setting up reminders, organizing notes, and coordinating social events between people.