Patent ID: 7657830

Claim:
In a computing environment comprising a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface comprising elements displayed according to a hierarchical arrangement of elements of the graphical user interface, a method performed by a computing system of associating related elements, the method comprising: using a computer, creating a first definition in an element tree of a first user interface element, the first user interface element having an ancestor hierarchically above the first user interface element; using the computer, creating a second definition in the element tree of a second user interface element, the second user interface element having the same common ancestor as the first user interface element, and wherein the same common ancestor is hierarchically above the second user interface element; using the computer, associating the first and second definitions with a group by including a common group name in the first and second definitions; using the computer, setting a markup, Boolean group scope value on the common ancestor; when the markup Boolean group scope value is set and when no markup Boolean group scope values are set before the common ancestor, indicating that sharing should occur between sub-trees of the common ancestor such that the first and second definitions share information using a common information sharing object; using the computer, associating the information sharing object with the first and second definitions, the information sharing object comprising information defining the size of the first and second user interface elements; receiving user input, via a computer, by user interaction with a rendered representation of at least one of the first or second elements, and as a result setting a markup Boolean group scope value for at least one of the first or second definitions, but where setting a markup Boolean group scope value for at least one of the first or second definitions sets a markup Boolean group scope value before the common ancestor such that sharing does not occur before the common ancestor irrespective of the value of the group scope value of the common ancestor; and in response to setting the markup Boolean group scope value for at least one of the first or second definitions and setting a markup Boolean group scope value before the common ancestor, associating first and second distinct information sharing objects with the first and second definitions respectively, using the computer.