Patent ID: 7454472

Claim:
A method of processing user interface commands in an instant messaging application, comprising: receiving, at the instant messaging application, a user interface command; receiving, at the instant messaging application, data that indicates that the user interface command is associated with a particular manner of processing the user interface command, wherein the particular manner of processing the user interface command comprises a particular manner of appending text to a history window; determining that an instant messaging environment that is currently active in the instant messaging application specifies a currently-active manner of processing the user interface command; and over-riding the currently-active manner of processing the user interface command with the particular manner of processing the user interface command by processing the user interface command in the particular manner; wherein the particular manner of processing the user interface command and the currently-active manner of processing the user interface command are different, wherein processing the user interface command in the currently-active manner comprises appending text to the history window differently than appending text to the history window in the particular manner.