Techniques are disclosed for constructing web (or other networked) documents
as parameterized forms of other networked documents. For example, a document may
be represented as a collection of changes to be applied to a first document which
is incorporated by reference in the second document. Instead of delivering the
entire document over a slower network connecting the content server to the content
browser, the document is delivered as a collection of changes to previously delivered
documents that are much closer to the user's content browser. In an exemplary embodiment
of the invention, special software is not necessarily required at the end user
for reconstructing the second document from the set of base documents and the set
of modifications to the base documents. Instead, the second document may be encoded
as a program in a scripting (or other form of computer) language that can be readily
executed by common content browsers and which, upon execution, causes the second
document to be displayed by the content browser.
