Selectively structuring a table of contents for accesing a database

A computer-based system for accessing content. The system includes a database in which the content is included in a plurality of content nodes. Each content node is uniquely identified by an identifier in a database table. The table is configured recursively to represent the content nodes. A browser uses one of the identifiers to format a table of contents (TOC) node referring to the corresponding content node. The browser inserts the TOC node into a TOC for accessing one or more of the content nodes. The TOC is recursively configurable in accordance with at least a portion of the table configuration.