Systems for user interface composition in a collaboration environment. A method commences upon identifying a server in a cloud-based environment, wherein the server is interfaced with one or more storage devices that store one or more objects accessible by two or more users. Upon receiving a request to access an object that is stored in the cloud-based environment, the method processes the request to determine if the object has two or more rendering options such as a popup rendering option or a modal rendering option. If so, the method selects one of the rendering options and collects further information such a user profile information and/or a collaboration rulebase, which further information is used to drive composition of formatted object. The adaptively-formatted object is transferred over the network to satisfy the request.