Complete interactivity

The ODA layout process is sequential and page based and hence does not provide complete interactivity. It does not support online editing capabilities such as the ability to scroll through a document, the ability to display selected items ( outlining facility), the ability to popup additional information on demand (such as footnotes, glossaries etc.), the ability to “fold” documents revealing hidden sections only on request, the ability to follow links automatically.

Complete interactivity would require extensions. Outlining can be done by having style tables that select objects by class and required level. Popup displays can be arranged by changing to a different style table and returning to the original table after the popup information has been displayed. Similarly, folding can be achieved indirectly through popups and popdowns. Link traversal can be done by replacing the current object with the target object or displaying the target object as a temporary popup item. A style table can be used to specify whether or not to display the linked object.