CLAIMS

What is claimed is: 1. A mechanism for specifying fees for an online service, comprising:
means associated with an object of the online service for defining a triggering action for a fee;
means associated with the triggering action for defining a fee; and
means for editing a plurality of such specifications.

2. A mechanism for determining a fee for an online service, comprising:
means for detecting an action on an object of the online service;
means, operative in response to detection of the action, for identifying a fee specification for the action and the associated object; and
means for utilizing the fee specification to define the fee.

3. A mechanism for specifying fees for an online service as defined in claim 2, comprising:
means associated with an object of the online service for defining a triggering action for a fee;
means associated with the triggering action for defining a fee; and
means for editing a plurality of such specifications.

4. The online service development tool as claimed by claim 1 wherein each of said fees are triggered by a defined user action.

5. The online service development tool as claimed by claim 4 wherein one of said defined user actions comprises access by said user to one of said visual objects on said online system 6. The mechanism as claimed by claim 4 wherein one of said defined user actions comprises submittal of an object for inclusion in said data store of said online service.

7. The mechanism as claimed by claim 4 wherein one of said defined user actions comprises a traverse of a hyperlink.

8. The mechanism as claimed by claim 4 wherein one of said defined user actions comprises a connection to an online service.

9. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1 wherein each of said fees are triggered by passage of a defined amount of time.

10. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1 wherein both said means for defining define a fee specifier, wherein the fee specifier comprises a first field specifying a triggering action that triggers said fee.

11. The mechanism as claimed by claim 10 wherein said fee specifier further comprises a second field specifying an entity to who the fee is directed.

1 2. The mechanism as claimed by claimsl O or 11 wherein said fee specifier further comprises a third field specifying an object associated with said fee event.

13. The mechanism as claimed by claimsl0, 11 or 12 wherein said fee specifier further comprises a fourth field defining a fee computation formula.

14. The mechanism as claimed by claim 13 wherein said fourth field comprises a script specifying said fee computation formula.

1 5. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1 4 wherein said script comprises at least one fee setting script primitive.

1 6. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1 wherein if said fee is positive, a fee is charged to said entity, and if said fee is negative, a payment is made to said entity.

1 7. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1 3 or 1 4 further comprising:
a script editor, said script editor for editing a script specifying said fee computation.

1 8. The mechanism as claimed by claim 1, wherein a document object is
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) document.

1 9. A computer system for designing an online service, comprising:
a first editing module for displaying and allowing editing of relationships among document objects of the online service;
a second editing module for editing individual document objects of the online service; and
a mechanism for invoking the second editing module in response to selection of a document object in the first editing module.

20. A computer system for designing an online service, comprising:
a viewing module for displaying relationships among and allowing selection of document objects of the online service;
an editing module for editing individual document objects of the online service; and
a linking mechanism for invoking the editing module in response to selection of a document object in the viewing module.

21. A computer system for allowing editing of fee structures of an online service, comprising:
means for displaying a visual representation of a fee specification having user-modifiable portions, wherein a user-modifiable portion is provided for entries for an indication of a document object of the online service, an indication of an event in connection with the document object, and a fee formuala;
means for receiving user input to edit a fee specification using the visual representation and to store edited fee specifications; and
means for storing a plurality of fee specifications defined using the means for displaying and means for receiving.

22. The computer system of claim 21 wherein the visual representation is a template.

23. The computer system of claim 21 or 22 wherein the fee formula is defined using a scripting language.

24. The computer system of claims 21 or 22 or 23 wherein the fee specifications are stored in a list.