Method for redirecting the source of a data object displayed in an HTML document

The invention is a method for Web authors to include a redirection tag in an HTML data object tag that redirects an application program to an alternative source file that stores underlying data associated with an HTML data object that a user has selected to import into the application program. Typically, HTML data objects in Web page are stored in HTML format. However, when a user selects an HTML object to import, they generally expect to import the data in the format that it was originally created in, such as XML. The redirection tag "redirects" the application program to an alternative source file where the underlying data is stored in a rich format, such as XML. The application program then imports the underlying data of the HTML data object from the alternative source file.