Patent ID: 6677962
Filing Date: 2004-01-13
Classification: G06F,G09G

Abstract:
A computing system comprising:one or more processors; computer-readable media; and multiple applications stored on the computer-readable media and executable on the one or more processors; a registry comprising: multiple control classes each of which being associated with an individual control and having been developed by one or more original control developers; one or more styles associated with each of the control classes, the styles defining a particular type of control for the control class; and a style object ID associated with one or more of the styles, each style object ID identifying a programming object that can be instantiated to render a control having a particular style; at least one of said programming objects being provided by a third party other than an original control developer and being configured so that the associated one or more styles are not capable of being manipulated by an end user; individual applications being configured to render a user interface having one or more controls to permit user interaction with the application, each control having an original design that was imparted to the control when it was originally designed by one or more of the original control developers; the system being configured to render individual controls for a user so that the controls are different from their original design.