Patent Publication Number: US-11640283-B2

Title: Control bar for element activation

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/998,465, filed Aug. 20, 2020, entitled “Control Bar for Element Activation”, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Digital content can be created using a conventional content editing application to have multiple overlapping elements, such as tabs, forms, tables, shapes, images, and text boxes. Conventional content editing applications, however, are unable to visually differentiate these overlapping elements, such as when a first element completely occludes a second element of the digital content, or when a first element is positioned within a boundary of a second element. This failure to visually differentiate overlapping elements of digital content makes it difficult for the user to identify and select individual elements in order to perform an operation with respect to the element, such as by moving, resizing, changing the color, changing the line width, and so forth. For example, in order to select overlapping elements using such conventional content editing applications, the user must either access a separate menu or repeatedly click or tap on the digital content in an attempt to select the desired element. This is not intuitive for most users and makes it difficult to identify and interact with overlapping elements during content creation. 
     SUMMARY 
     To overcome these problems, a control bar for element activation is leveraged. A design interface for editing digital content includes at least a first control bar and a second control bar. The first control bar associated is with a first element of the digital content and the second control bar is associated with a second element of the digital content that at least partially overlaps the first element in the digital content. The first control bar and the second control bar are configured to remain visible and selectable in the design interface while editing the digital content. User input to select the first control bar or the second control bar is received, and the respective first element or second element associated with the selected control bar is activated responsive to the user input. The activating changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar and the activated element and enables user interaction with the activated element. A finalized version of the digital content is then generated by removing the first control bar and the second control bar from the finalized version of the digital content. 
     This Summary introduces a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. As such, this Summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. 
         FIG.  1    is an illustration of an environment in an example implementation that is operable to employ techniques described herein. 
         FIG.  2    depicts an example system in which the control bar manager of  FIG.  1    controls a control bar for element activation in accordance with the described techniques. 
         FIGS.  3 A- 3 F  depict an example of a design interface of a design tool used in connection with a control bar manager. 
         FIG.  4    depicts an example of an element and associated control bar that is positioned at a preconfigured distance above a top boundary of the element. 
         FIG.  5    depicts a procedure in an example implementation in which a control bar manager provides control bars for element activation. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates an example system that includes an example computing device that is representative of one or more computing systems and/or devices that may implement the various techniques described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Overview 
     A control bar for element activation is described. The techniques described herein solve the problems associated with conventional content editing applications by providing an “always visible” and “always selectable” control bar that is associated with individual elements of digital content. Each respective control bar is configured to remain “visible” and “selectable” at all times while editing the digital content, even when an element overlaps with another element of the digital content. For example, the control bar associated with an element will remain visible even if the element is occluded by another element causing the element to be “hidden”, or if the element is positioned within the boundary of another element. Moreover, a position of the control bar relative to the element remains fixed at all times, even if the element is moved or resized. In an example implementation, the control bar is provided as a horizontal bar and is positioned at a preconfigured distance above the top boundary of the element. In this way, the position of the element can be readily identified based on the position of the visible control bar. 
     The control bar may be selected in order to activate the respective element associated with the selected control bar such that the user can interact with the activated element. In other words, rather than selecting the element itself, the user can instead select the associated control bar in order to activate the element. Due to the control bar being always visible and selectable, the user can select the control bar with a single click or tap on the control bar regardless of the positioning of the control bar relative to other elements of the digital content. In other words, the control bar remains in a top layer of the digital content at all times during the editing phase such that any input to the digital content at a position associated with the control bar causes the associated element to be activated, even in cases in which multiple elements overlap. For example, even if an element is completely blocked from view by an additional element, the control bar associated with this hidden element will remain visible and selectable in the design interface. As another example, when a first element is positioned within a boundary of a second element, the first element can be readily selected with a single click on the associated control bar even through said control bar is within the boundary of the first element. 
     Responsive to detecting user input to a control bar, the associated element is activated. Once activated, subsequent user input is interpreted as input to perform an operation with respect to the activated element, such as to configure properties of the element. In this way, the user can provide a first input by clicking or tapping a control bar to activate the associated element, and then provide a second input to interact with or edit the activated element, such as by dragging the activated element to a new position within the digital content, changing a size, shape, or color of the activated element, or modifying other parameters or attributes of the activated element. In one or more implementations, selection of the control bar also causes a change in the visual appearance of both the control bar and the associated element in order to visually indicate that the element is activated, such as by visually identifying a boundary of the activated element, modifying a color of the selected control bar and/or the activated element, or changing a size of the selected control bar. 
     At the conclusion of the design and editing phase, a finalized version of the digital content is generated. The finalized version of the digital content, for example, can correspond to a graphic, video, document, web page, and so forth. As part of generating the finalized version of the digital content, the control bars are automatically removed from the digital content such that they are no longer visible in the finalized version of the digital content. 
     Thus, the control bar described herein solves the problems of conventional content editing applications by enabling elements to always be selectable during the design phase even when such elements are hidden or positioned within the boundary of other elements. Doing so enables the user to easily identify hidden elements and configure the properties of such hidden elements no matter how many elements are added to the digital content because the control bar is always displayed and selectable. Moreover, the control bars are removed at the conclusion of the editing phase and thus do not impact the finalized version of the digital content. 
     In the following discussion, an example environment is first described that may employ the techniques described herein. Example implementation details and procedures are then described which may be performed in the example environment as well as other environments. Performance of the example procedures is not limited to the example environment and the example environment is not limited to performance of the example procedures. 
     Example Environment 
       FIG.  1    is an illustration of an environment  100  in an example implementation that is operable to employ techniques described herein. The illustrated environment  100  includes a computing device  102 , which may be configured in a variety of ways. The computing device  102 , for instance, may be configured as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile device (e.g., assuming a handheld configuration such as a tablet or mobile phone), and so forth. Thus, the computing device  102  may range from full resource devices with substantial memory and processor resources (e.g., personal computers, game consoles) to a low-resource device with limited memory and/or processing resources (e.g., mobile devices). Additionally, although a single computing device  102  is shown, the computing device  102  may be representative of a plurality of different devices, such as multiple servers utilized by a business to perform operations “over the cloud” as described in  FIG.  6   . 
     The computing device  102  is illustrated as including a design tool  104 . Generally, the design tool  104  represents an application or functionality of the computing device  102  to design, create, and/or modify digital content  106 . As described herein, digital content  106  may include any type of digital content that is designed, created, or edited using design tool  104 , including by way of example and not limitation, graphics, digital presentations, documents, videos, images, web pages, and so forth. For example, the design tool  104  may be implemented as a graphics editing application, a word processing application, a web page design application, and so forth. The design tool  104  may further be representative of more than one application (e.g., a suite of applications) that supports functionality to perform content editing operations on various types of digital content  106  without departing from the spirit or scope of the techniques described herein. At least some of the digital content  106 , relative to which the design tool  104  is configured to perform operations may be maintained in storage of the computing device  102 . However, the digital content  106  may also represent digital content accessible to the computing device  102  in other ways, e.g., accessible to the computing device  102  from storage of another device over network  130 . The digital content  106  may represent various types of digital content without departing from the spirit or scope of the techniques described herein. 
     The design tool  104  includes functionality that enables users to create and arrange a variety of digital content elements  108  (“elements  108 ”) within the digital content  106 . As described herein, elements  108  can include any element or object that is included with digital content  106 , including by way of example and not limitation, images, text, points, lines, basic shapes (e.g., rectangles, squares, ellipses, circles, triangles, and so on), user-defined shapes (e.g., by drawing and connecting a series of lines), and so forth. 
     In accordance with the techniques described herein, elements  108  may also include container elements which correspond to an element that can contain other elements  108  within a boundary of the container element. In some cases, the design tool  104  establishes a hierarchical relationship between the container element and the elements contained within the container element. For example, the container element may be established as the parent element for one or more child elements contained within the parent element. Examples of container elements  108  include, by way of example and not limitation, frames, tabs, tables, forms, and lists. In some cases, a hierarchical relationship between elements  108  may be established based on the positioning of elements within the digital content. For example, a parent-child relationship may be established when a user positions a first shape within the boundary of a second shape. 
     In order to facilitate the design, creation, or editing of digital content  106 , the design tool  104  includes functionality for editing digital content  106  during a design phase. As part of the design phase, the design tool  104  provides a design interface  110  that allows users to interact with and edit the elements  108  of the digital content in order to change the properties or attributes of these elements, such as the element&#39;s position within the digital content  106 , size, shape, color, transparency, fill type (e.g., solid, gradient, pattern, texture, and so on), depth relative to other objects (e.g., in front of or behind), whether the elements cast shadows, and so forth. The design tool  104  may facilitate other content editing operations via the functionality of the design interface  110  without departing from the spirit or scope of the techniques described herein. 
     By way of example, the digital content  106  is depicted as being displayed within the design interface  110  as a graphic that the user is creating and editing using the design tool  104 . The graphic, in this instance, is a birthday card graphic and includes a container element  112 , a text element  114  (which includes the words “Happy Birthday Jack!”), and an image element  116  (an image of a robot). Notably, the elements  114  and  116  are positioned within a boundary of the container element  112 , which may cause the design tool  104  to create a hierarchical relationship between “parent” element  112  and “child” elements  114  and  116 . Moreover, it is to be appreciated that elements  114  and  116  each partially overlap element  112  due to their positioning with the boundary of element  112 . Using conventional content editing applications, it can be difficult for the user to select and interact with or edit these overlapping elements. For example, clicking on element  114  or  116  using a conventional content editing application may cause the application to interpret the click as a selection of the container element  112 . This can lead to user frustration and confusion as the user tries to select a desired element. 
     To solve these problems, the computing device  102  is depicted as including a control bar manager  118 , the functionality of which may be incorporated in and/or accessible to the design tool  104 . The control bar manager  118  is implemented at least partially in hardware of the computing device  102  to facilitate efficient and effective creation and editing of digital content  106  through the use of control bars  120  associated with the elements  108  of the digital content  106 . Continuing with the example above, the control bar manager  118  displays control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  for elements  112 ,  114 , and  116 , respectively. Each of control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  are selectable by the user in order to activate the corresponding element  112 ,  114 , or  116 . The activating enables user interaction with the activated element, such as to move the activated element, change a size, color or shape of the activated element, or modify other properties or attributes of the activated element. Notably, the control bar manager  118  controls the control bars  120  to remain visible and selectable in the design interface  110  while editing the digital content  106  during the design phase. 
     At the completion of the design phase, the design tool  104  generates a finalized version of the digital content  128 . The finalized version of the digital content  128 , for example, can correspond to an image file, movie, document, web page, and so forth. As part of generating the finalized version of the digital content  128 , the control bar manager  118  automatically removes the control bars  120  from the digital content  106  such that they are no longer visible in the finalized version of the digital content  128 . For example, as depicted in environment  100 , the design tool  104  has removed the control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  from the finalized version of the digital content  128 . 
     Having considered an example environment, consider now a discussion of some example details of the techniques for a control bar for element activation in accordance with one or more implementations. 
       FIG.  2    depicts an example system  200  in which the control bar manager  118  of  FIG.  1    controls a control bar for element activation in accordance with the described techniques. In the illustrated example  200 , the control bar manager  118  includes a display module  202 , an activation module  204 , and an operation manager  206 . Although depicted with these three modules, in implementation the control bar manager  118  may include more, fewer, or different modules to control the control bar for element activation without departing from the spirit or scope of the techniques described herein. 
     In the illustrated example  200 , the display module  202  is depicted as controlling the display of control bars  120  and associated elements  108 . As part of this, the display module  202  of the control bar manager  118  controls the display of a control bar  120  at a position that remains fixed relative to the respective position of the associated element  108 . In this way, the position of the element can be readily identified by the user based on the position of the visible control bar  120 . In one or more implementations, the display module  202  provides a horizontal control bar that is displayed at a preconfigured distance above a top boundary of the associated element. However, the display module  202  can provide a variety of different shapes for the control bar as well as display the control bar at different positions relative to the associated elements without departing form the spirit or scope of the described techniques, such as by positioning the control bar to the right, left, or below the associated element in the digital content. As described throughout, the display module  202  controls the control bars  120  to remain visible and selectable in the design interface while editing the digital content. 
     The activation module  204  is depicted as monitoring for and receiving a first user input  208  to select one of the displayed control bars  120 . Due to the control bar being always visible and selectable, the first user input  208  can be received as a single click or tap on the control bar  120  regardless of the positioning of the control bar relative to other elements of the digital content. In other words, the control bar remains in a top layer of the digital content at all times during the editing phase such that any input to the digital content at a position associated with the control bar causes the activation module  204  to interpret the input as a user selection of the control bar, even in cases in which multiple elements overlap. Responsive to detecting the first user input  208  to select a control bar  120 , the activation module  204  activates the element associated with the selected control bar, which is depicted as activated element  210  in example  200 . 
     The activation module  204  is depicted as communicating an indication of the activated element  210  back to the display module  202 . Responsively, the display module  202  changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar and the activated element  210 . The display module can change the visual appearance of the selected control bar and the activated element  210  in a variety of different ways, including by way of example and not limitation, visually identifying a boundary of the activated element  210 , modifying a color of the selected control bar and/or the activated element  210 , or changing a size of the selected control bar. 
     The activation module  204  also communicates an indication of the activated element  210  to the operation manager  206  to inform the operation manager  206  that the activated element  210  is currently active. Subsequently, the operation manager  206  receives a second user input  212  and interprets the second user input  212  as input to perform an operation with respect to the activated element  210 . In this way, the user can quickly click or tap a control bar to activate the associated element, and then provide a second input to interact with or edit the activated element  210 , such as by dragging the activated element to a new position within the digital content, changing a size, shape, or color of the activated element  210 , or modifying other parameters or attributes of the activated element  210 . 
       FIGS.  3 A- 3 F  depict an example  300  of a design interface of a design tool used in connection with a control bar manager. The illustrated example  300  includes a design interface  302  displayed via display device  304 . In  FIG.  3 A , the design interface  302  is depicted as including a design area  306  for designing and editing digital content. The design area  306 , in this example, is shown as displaying various elements for a web page, including a frame element  308  that contains a form element  310 . The form element  310 , in this example, includes multiple data entry field elements  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320 , which are configured to receive user input corresponding to a user ID, user name, department, address, and remarks, respectively. The design interface  302  in this example is further depicted as including various controls to insert elements into the digital content, modify parameters of the digital content, and perform various other operations associated with the digital content. 
     Notably, form element  310  is positioned within a boundary of frame element  308  which may cause the design tool  104  to create a hierarchical relationship between these elements such that frame element  308  is the “parent” and form element  310  is the “child”. Similarly, the multiple data entry field elements  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320  are positioned within a boundary of form element  310  which may cause the design tool  104  to create a hierarchical relationship between these elements such that the form element  310  is the “parent” and the data entry field elements  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320  are the “children” of form element  310 . Moreover, it is to be appreciated that elements  308 ,  310 ,  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320  overlap each other due to the positioning of form element  310  within the boundary of frame element  308 , and the positioning of elements  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320  within form element  310 . Using conventional content editing applications, it can be difficult for the user to select and interact with or edit these overlapping elements. 
     To solve the problems associated with conventional content editing applications, the control bar manager  118  displays a control bar  322  associated with frame element  308  and a control bar  324  associated with form element  310 . Each of control bars  322  and  324  are selectable by the user in order to activate the corresponding element  308  or  310 , respectively. The activating enables user interaction with the activated element, such as to move the activated element, change a size, color or shape of the activated element, or modify other properties or attributes of the activated element. As discussed throughout, the control bar manager  118  controls the control bars  322  and  324  to remain visible and selectable in the design interface  110  while editing the digital content  106  during the design phase. 
     The illustrated example  300  also includes a cursor  326 , which represents functionality to enable a user to provide input to select elements or controls displayed in the design interface  302 . Although the cursor  326  is illustrated, in one or more implementations there may be no displayed cursor. Additionally or alternately, the element and controls of the design interface  302  may be selected in other ways, such as via touch input (or other gesture input), keyboard input, stylus input, voice input, and so forth. 
     In  FIG.  3 B , the cursor  326  is depicted selecting the control bar  322  associated with the frame element  308 . The control bar  322  can be selected, for example, by positioning cursor  326  over the control bar  322  and initiating a single click or tap. Responsive to the selection of control bar  322 , the control bar manager  118  activates the associated frame element  308 . The activating enables user interaction with frame element  308 , such as to move or resize the frame element, or modify other properties or attributes of the frame element via user selection of various controls in the design interface  302 . 
     As part of activating frame element  308 , the control bar manager  118  also changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar  322  and the activated frame element  308 . In this example, control bar manager  118  is depicted as changing the color and width of the selected control bar  322 . For example, as compared to  FIG.  3 A , the control bar  322  has increased in width and changed color from gray to black. Doing to visually distinguishes the selected control bar  322  from control bar  324  which is not currently active. Additionally, the control bar manager  118  has visually identified a border  328  of the activated frame element  308 . In some cases, the control bar manager may also highlight the activated frame element  308  to show that the frame element  308  is currently active. It is to be appreciated that the control bar manager may change the visual appearance of the selected control bar and the activated element in a variety of different ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the described techniques. 
     In  FIG.  3 C , the cursor  326  is depicted selecting the control bar  324  associated with the form element  310 . The control bar  324  can be selected, for example, by positioning cursor  326  over the control bar  324  and initiating a single click or tap. Responsive to the selection of control bar  324 , the control bar manager  118  activates the associated form element  310 . The activating enables user interaction with form element  310 , such as to move or resize the form element, or modify other properties or attributes of the form element via user selection of various controls in the design interface  302 . 
     As part of activating form element  310 , the control bar manager  118  also changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar  324  and the activated form element  310 . In this example, control bar manager  118  is depicted as changing the color and width of the selected control bar  324 . For example, as compared to  FIGS.  3 A and  3 B , the control bar  324  has increased in width and changed color from gray to black. Doing so visually distinguishes the selected control bar  324  from control bar  322  which is not currently active. Additionally, the control bar manager  118  has visually identified a border  330  of the activated form element  310 . In some cases, the control bar manager may also highlight the activated form element  310  to show that the form element  310  is currently active. It is to be appreciated that the control bar manager  118  may change the visual appearance of the selected control bar and the activated element in a variety of different ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the described techniques. 
     In one or more implementations, the control bar manager  118  is configured to display control bars for container elements, but does not do so for single elements. In example  300 , for instance, the data entry field elements  312 ,  314 ,  316 ,  318 , and  320  do not include associated control bars because they are each single element which do not contain any child elements. In this implementation, however, single elements which do not include a control bar may be easily selected by the user by first selecting the control bar associated with the container element that contains the single element, and then selecting the single element. In  FIG.  3 D , for example, after activating form element  310  by selecting control bar  324 , the user selects data entry field element  312  by positioning cursor  326  over the data entry field element  312  and initiating a single click or tap. Because form element  310  is currently active, the user can click directly on any of the child elements contained within form element  310  in order to interact with the child elements. Responsive to the user selection of data entry field element  320 , the control bar manager has visually identified a border  332  of the activated data entry field element  320 . However, it is to be appreciated that the control bar manager may change the visual appearance of the activated element in a variety of different ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the described techniques. The activating enables user interaction with data entry field element  320 , such as to move or resize the element, or modify other properties or attributes of the element via user selection of various controls in the design interface  302 . For example, in  FIG.  3 E  the user has modified the size of data entry field element  320  by clicking the border  332  and dragging downwards. 
       FIG.  3 F  depicts a finalized version of the digital content  334 . As part of generating the finalized version of the digital content  128 , the control bar manager  118  automatically removes the control bars from the digital content such that they are no longer visible in the finalized version of the digital content  334 . In this example, the design tool  104  has removed the control bars  322  and  324  from the finalized version of the digital content  334 . 
     As discussed throughout, the control bar manager  118  can display the control bar at a preconfigured distance above a top boundary of the element. To do so, the control bar manager  118  can apply a padding layer to each element of the digital content. As an example, consider  FIG.  4    which depicts an example  400  that includes an example element  402  and associated control bar  404  that is positioned at a preconfigured distance above a top boundary of the element. In this example, the element  402  is shown with an element height  406  and a top boundary  408 , which is depicted as a dashed line. The control bar  404  is displayed at a preconfigured distance above the top boundary  408  of the element  402 . In this example, this preconfigured distance is depicted as a padding layer  410 . Notably, the distance of the padding layer  410  may be fixed for each element in the digital content. Doing so enables the control bar to have a visible position in the digital content at all times during the design phase. While the padding layer is depicted throughout as being positioned above the top boundary of the element, it is to be appreciated that other configurations could be used without departing from the spirit or scope of the described techniques, such as by positioning the padding layer below the bottom boundary of the element, or to the left or right of the element. 
     Having considered an example environment, consider now a discussion of some example details of the techniques for a control bar for element activation in accordance with one or more implementations. 
     Example Procedures 
     This section describes example procedures for a control bar for element activation. Aspects of the procedures may be implemented in hardware, firmware, or software, or a combination thereof. The procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one or more devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. In at least some implementations the procedures are performed by a design tool, such as design tool  104  that makes use of a control bar manager  118 . 
       FIG.  5    depicts a procedure  500  in an example implementation in which a control bar manager provides control bars for element activation. 
     A design interface for editing digital content is displayed (block  502 ). By way of example, the design tool  104  displays a design interface  110  for editing digital content  106  on a display of computing device  102 . The design interface  110  allows users to interact with and edit the elements  108  of the digital content  106  in order to change the properties or attributes of these elements, such as the element&#39;s position within the digital content  106 , size, shape, color, transparency, fill type (e.g., solid, gradient, pattern, texture, and so on), depth relative to other objects (e.g., in front of or behind), whether the elements cast shadows, and so forth. The design tool  104  may facilitate other content editing operations via the functionality of the design interface  110  without departing from the spirit or scope of the techniques described herein. 
     A first control bar and a second control bar are displayed in the design interface (block  504 ). In accordance with the principles discussed herein, the first control bar is associated with a first element of the digital content and the second control bar is associated with a second element of the digital content that at least partially overlaps the first element in the digital content. As discussed throughout, the first control bar and the second control bar are configured to remain visible and selectable in the design interface while editing the digital content. By way of example, the control bar manager displays control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  for elements  112 ,  114 , and  116 , respectively. Each of control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  are selectable by the user in order to activate the corresponding element  112 ,  114 , or  116 . Notably, the control bar manager  118  controls the control bars  120  to remain visible and selectable in the design interface  110  while editing the digital content  106  during the design phase. 
     User input is received to select the first control bar or the second control bar (block  506 ). By way of example, the activation module  204  of the control bar manager  118  receives a first user input  208  to select one of the displayed control bars  120 . Due to the control bar being always visible and selectable, the user input can be received as a single click or tap on the control bar  120  regardless of the positioning of the control bar relative to other elements of the digital content. In other words, the control bar remains in a top layer of the digital content at all times during the editing phase such that any input to the digital content at a position associated with the control bar causes the activation module to interpret the input as a user selection of the control bar, even in cases in which multiple elements overlap. 
     The respective first element or second element associated with the selected control bar is activated responsive to the user input (block  508 ). In accordance with the principles discussed herein, the activating changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar and the activated element and enables user interaction with the activated element. By way of example, responsive to detecting the first user input  208  to select a control bar  120 , the activation module  204  activates the element associated with the selected control bar, which is depicted as activated element  210  in example  200 . Additionally, the display module  202  changes a visual appearance of both the selected control bar and the activated element  210 . The display module can change the visual appearance of the selected control bar and the activated element  210  in a variety of different ways, including by way of example and not limitation, visually identifying a boundary of the activated element  210 , modifying a color of the selected control bar and/or the activated element  210 , or changing a size of the selected control bar. Once activated, the operation manager  206  interprets subsequent user input as input to perform an operation with respect to the activated element  210 . In this way, the user can quickly click or tap a control bar to activate the associated element, and then provide a second input to interact with or edit the activated element  210 , such as by dragging the activated element to a new position within the digital content, changing a size, shape, or color of the activated element  210 , or modifying other parameters or attributes of the activated element  210 . 
     A finalized version of the digital content is generated by removing the first control bar and the second control bar from the finalized version of the digital content (block  510 ). By way of example, at the completion of the design phase, the design tool  104  generates a finalized version of the digital content  128 . The finalized version of the digital content  128 , for example, can correspond to an image file, movie, document, web page, and so forth. As part of generating the finalized version of the digital content  128 , the control bar manager  118  automatically removes the control bars  120  from the digital content  106  such that they are no longer visible in the finalized version of the digital content  128 . For example, as depicted in environment  100 , the design tool  104  has removed the control bars  122 ,  124 , and  126  from the finalized version of the digital content  128 . 
     Example System and Device 
       FIG.  6    illustrates an example system  600  that includes an example computing device  602  that is representative of one or more computing systems and/or devices that may implement the various techniques described herein. This is illustrated through inclusion of the control bar manager  118 . The computing device  602  may be, for example, a server of a service provider, a device associated with a client (e.g., a client device), an on-chip system, and/or any other suitable computing device or computing system. 
     The example computing device  602  as illustrated includes a processing system  604 , one or more computer-readable media  606 , and one or more I/O interface  608  that are communicatively coupled, one to another. Although not shown, the computing device  602  may further include a system bus or other data and command transfer system that couples the various components, one to another. A system bus can include any one or combination of different bus structures, such as a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or a processor or local bus that utilizes any of a variety of bus architectures. A variety of other examples are also contemplated, such as control and data lines. 
     The processing system  604  is representative of functionality to perform one or more operations using hardware. Accordingly, the processing system  604  is illustrated as including hardware element  610  that may be configured as processors, functional blocks, and so forth. This may include implementation in hardware as an application specific integrated circuit or other logic device formed using one or more semiconductors. The hardware elements  610  are not limited by the materials from which they are formed or the processing mechanisms employed therein. For example, processors may be comprised of semiconductor(s) and/or transistors (e.g., electronic integrated circuits (ICs)). In such a context, processor-executable instructions may be electronically-executable instructions. 
     The computer-readable storage media  606  is illustrated as including memory/storage  612 . The memory/storage  612  represents memory/storage capacity associated with one or more computer-readable media. The memory/storage component  612  may include volatile media (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile media (such as read only memory (ROM), Flash memory, optical disks, magnetic disks, and so forth). The memory/storage component  612  may include fixed media (e.g., RAM, ROM, a fixed hard drive, and so on) as well as removable media (e.g., Flash memory, a removable hard drive, an optical disc, and so forth). The computer-readable media  606  may be configured in a variety of other ways as further described below. 
     Input/output interface(s)  608  are representative of functionality to allow a user to enter commands and information to computing device  602 , and also allow information to be presented to the user and/or other components or devices using various input/output devices. Examples of input devices include a keyboard, a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a microphone, a scanner, touch functionality (e.g., capacitive or other sensors that are configured to detect physical touch), a camera (e.g., which may employ visible or non-visible wavelengths such as infrared frequencies to recognize movement as gestures that do not involve touch), and so forth. Examples of output devices include a display device (e.g., a monitor or projector), speakers, a printer, a network card, tactile-response device, and so forth. Thus, the computing device  602  may be configured in a variety of ways as further described below to support user interaction. 
     Various techniques may be described herein in the general context of software, hardware elements, or program modules. Generally, such modules include routines, programs, objects, elements, components, data structures, and so forth that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and “component” as used herein generally represent software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof. The features of the techniques described herein are platform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented on a variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety of processors. 
     An implementation of the described modules and techniques may be stored on or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. The computer-readable media may include a variety of media that may be accessed by the computing device  602 . By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may include “computer-readable storage media” and “computer-readable signal media.” 
     “Computer-readable storage media” may refer to media and/or devices that enable persistent and/or non-transitory storage of information in contrast to mere signal transmission, carrier waves, or signals per se. Thus, computer-readable storage media refers to non-signal bearing media. The computer-readable storage media includes hardware such as volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media and/or storage devices implemented in a method or technology suitable for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, logic elements/circuits, or other data. Examples of computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, hard disks, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other storage device, tangible media, or article of manufacture suitable to store the desired information and which may be accessed by a computer. 
     “Computer-readable signal media” may refer to a signal-bearing medium that is configured to transmit instructions to the hardware of the computing device  602 , such as via a network. Signal media typically may embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as carrier waves, data signals, or other transport mechanism. Signal media also include any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media. 
     As previously described, hardware elements  610  and computer-readable media  606  are representative of modules, programmable device logic and/or fixed device logic implemented in a hardware form that may be employed in some embodiments to implement at least some aspects of the techniques described herein, such as to perform one or more instructions. Hardware may include components of an integrated circuit or on-chip system, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and other implementations in silicon or other hardware. In this context, hardware may operate as a processing device that performs program tasks defined by instructions and/or logic embodied by the hardware as well as a hardware utilized to store instructions for execution, e.g., the computer-readable storage media described previously. 
     Combinations of the foregoing may also be employed to implement various techniques described herein. Accordingly, software, hardware, or executable modules may be implemented as one or more instructions and/or logic embodied on some form of computer-readable storage media and/or by one or more hardware elements  610 . The computing device  602  may be configured to implement particular instructions and/or functions corresponding to the software and/or hardware modules. Accordingly, implementation of a module that is executable by the computing device  602  as software may be achieved at least partially in hardware, e.g., through use of computer-readable storage media and/or hardware elements  610  of the processing system  604 . The instructions and/or functions may be executable/operable by one or more articles of manufacture (for example, one or more computing devices  602  and/or processing systems  604 ) to implement techniques, modules, and examples described herein. 
     The techniques described herein may be supported by various configurations of the computing device  602  and are not limited to the specific examples of the techniques described herein. This functionality may also be implemented all or in part through use of a distributed system, such as over a “cloud”  614  via a platform  616  as described below. 
     The cloud  614  includes and/or is representative of a platform  616  for resources  618 . The platform  616  abstracts underlying functionality of hardware (e.g., servers) and software resources of the cloud  614 . The resources  618  may include applications and/or data that can be utilized while computer processing is executed on servers that are remote from the computing device  602 . Resources  618  can also include services provided over the Internet and/or through a subscriber network, such as a cellular or Wi-Fi network. 
     The platform  616  may abstract resources and functions to connect the computing device  602  with other computing devices. The platform  616  may also serve to abstract scaling of resources to provide a corresponding level of scale to encountered demand for the resources  618  that are implemented via the platform  616 . Accordingly, in an interconnected device embodiment, implementation of functionality described herein may be distributed throughout the system  600 . For example, the functionality may be implemented in part on the computing device  602  as well as via the platform  616  that abstracts the functionality of the cloud  614 . 
     CONCLUSION 
     Although the systems and techniques have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the systems and techniques defined in the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.