Patent ID: 8561008

Claim:
A method for displaying elements of a software environment arranged in a hierarchical structure, comprising: displaying a horizontal linear chain consisting of exactly one representative hierarchy element for each hierarchy level corresponding to a navigable path in the hierarchical structure, the representative hierarchy elements arranged horizontally following one another in succession within the linear chain according to the respective hierarchy level, wherein each representative hierarchy element is selectable to allow for viewing of its component elements, and wherein the component elements remain hidden from view in a space saving manner until selected so that only the horizontal linear chain is viewable as the navigable path consisting of exactly one representative hierarchy element for each hierarchy level; upon receiving a selection by a user of a selected hierarchy representative element at any location in the horizontal linear chain, opening a vertically arranged list that displays all component elements of the selected hierarchy representative element, wherein the vertically arranged list is displayed directly atop the selected representative element in the horizontal linear chain, with the selected representative element appearing as one of the component elements of the vertically arranged list; and upon receiving a selection by the user of an alternate one of the component elements of the vertically displayed list, closing the vertically arranged list and updating the displayed representative hierarchy element at the location in the horizontal linear chain to correspond to the alternate one of the component elements selected by the user, wherein the component elements are again hidden from view in a space saving manner so that only the horizontal linear chain is viewable as an updated navigable path consisting of exactly one representative hierarchy element for each hierarchy level based on the selection of the alternate one of the component elements.