Patent ID: 7346846

Claim:
A method for presenting help information to a user, comprising: providing an application interface generated by a primary application, wherein the application interface includes at least one user interface feature associated therewith; providing a help selection mechanism comprising a see-through panel which substantially overlays the one user interface feature associated with the application interface and allowing the user to request help information regarding the underlying one user interface feature; receiving a help request regarding the underlying one user interface feature from the user through the help selection mechanism while the one user interface feature is substantially overlaid by the see-through panel, the request being submitted by the user after the underlying one user interface feature is identified on the see-through panel; and presenting, in response to the received help request, the visual help information to the user on the see-through panel provided by the help selection mechanism, wherein the user is allowed to interact with the underlying one user interface feature associated with the primary application while the one user interface feature remains substantially overlaid by the see-through panel during the interaction.