In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a method is presented for viewing information acquired from an integrated network. A plurality of modules (client/server methods) is used by an end user to access information in the integrated network. The information is accessed from databases distributed across the network. A client/server method (i.e., module) utilizes a key to search for information across distributed databases. The information is then returned to the client for viewing in a window based on the mode selected for viewing. For example, the information may be viewed as text in information mode, as images in photo mode, as images in CAD mode, or as a video in video mode.