1. A computer-implemented method for creating and processing a human interface description, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an application-specific human interface description associated with an information-gathering application, the application-specific human interface description comprising: application-specific layout elements defined according to terminology consistent with the application, the application-specific layout elements being arranged in an expandable and collapsible hierarchy having a corresponding hierarchical state; and data elements defined according to the terminology and having values specific to the application; transforming the application-specific human interface description into a standardized human interface description, the standardized human interface description comprising standardized layout information and the data elements specific to the application, the transforming comprising: translating the application-specific layout elements into the standardized layout information, the standardized layout information comprising layout elements in a format independent of the application and independent of a browser, wherein the standardized layout information maintains the hierarchical state of the application-specific layout elements; decomposing the standardized human interface description into a human interface layout template and a data description, the data description comprising the data elements specific to the application, and the human interface layout template comprising the standardized layout information, the decomposing comprising: extracting the standardized layout information from the standardized human interface description using a first transformation; and extracting the data elements specific to the application from the standardized human interface description using a second transformation, wherein the second transformation scans the standardized human interface description to identify name attributes, and at least one of the data elements specific to the application and corresponding to the identified name attributes; and merging a data instance of the data description with the human interface layout template to form an individual browser-compliant human interface description, the merging comprising translating the layout information into a format consistent with the browser.
1. A computer-implemented method for creating and processing a human interface description, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an application-specific human interface description associated with an information-gathering application, the application-specific human interface description comprising: application-specific layout elements defined according to terminology consistent with the application, the application-specific layout elements being arranged in an expandable and collapsible hierarchy having a corresponding hierarchical state; and data elements defined according to the terminology and having values specific to the application; transforming the application-specific human interface description into a standardized human interface description, the standardized human interface description comprising standardized layout information and the data elements specific to the application, the transforming comprising: translating the application-specific layout elements into the standardized layout information, the standardized layout information comprising layout elements in a format independent of the application and independent of a browser, wherein the standardized layout information maintains the hierarchical state of the application-specific layout elements; decomposing the standardized human interface description into a human interface layout template and a data description, the data description comprising the data elements specific to the application, and the human interface layout template comprising the standardized layout information, the decomposing comprising: extracting the standardized layout information from the standardized human interface description using a first transformation; and extracting the data elements specific to the application from the standardized human interface description using a second transformation, wherein the second transformation scans the standardized human interface description to identify name attributes, and at least one of the data elements specific to the application and corresponding to the identified name attributes; and merging a data instance of the data description with the human interface layout template to form an individual browser-compliant human interface description, the merging comprising translating the layout information into a format consistent with the browser. 8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the merging comprises performing a transformation using a style sheet.