1. A computer-implemented method comprising: providing electronic data including a first electronic document, the first electronic document having a layout defining a first rendered appearance, the layout being formatting information defining a first rendered appearance of the first electronic document, the first electronic document containing a plurality of references; receiving user input specifying a first selection operation that defines a first area of interest in the first electronic document based on the layout of the first electronic document; using the first area of interest to define a first action area over the first rendered appearance, the first action area having a position relative to the first rendered appearance, the first action area containing one or more of the plurality of references, the defined first action area being less than an entire area of the first electronic document; identifying the references contained in the first action area; retrieving a second electronic document using one of the references contained in the first action area; using the definition of the first action area to define automatically a second action area over a second rendered appearance of the second electronic document, the second action area having the same position over the second rendered appearance as the first action area has over the first rendered appearance; and identifying references contained in the second action area.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: providing electronic data including a first electronic document, the first electronic document having a layout defining a first rendered appearance, the layout being formatting information defining a first rendered appearance of the first electronic document, the first electronic document containing a plurality of references; receiving user input specifying a first selection operation that defines a first area of interest in the first electronic document based on the layout of the first electronic document; using the first area of interest to define a first action area over the first rendered appearance, the first action area having a position relative to the first rendered appearance, the first action area containing one or more of the plurality of references, the defined first action area being less than an entire area of the first electronic document; identifying the references contained in the first action area; retrieving a second electronic document using one of the references contained in the first action area; using the definition of the first action area to define automatically a second action area over a second rendered appearance of the second electronic document, the second action area having the same position over the second rendered appearance as the first action area has over the first rendered appearance; and identifying references contained in the second action area. 4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input includes a click and drag operation performed on the first rendered appearance of the first electronic document.