Patent ID: 8601381

Claim:
A method for providing a customizable online environment for a user on a client, said online environment being hosted by a server connected to said client via a communication data network for rendering on a display of the client, said method comprising: receiving an instruction from the user for selecting a background image for the online environment; storing a profile of the user, said profile including a plurality of user-customizable data items, each of the data items having properties associated therewith; associating at least one of the plurality of user-customizable data items with one or more icons, said icons being different from the background image and depending on and visually indicating the properties of the user-customizable data item associated therewith; causing the icons to be rendered on the background image to represent the user-customizable data items in the profile associated with each of the icons; integrating at least one of the rendered icons into the background image of the online environment at a particular position, wherein the particular position of the integrated icon depends on the properties of the user-customizable data item associated with the integrated icon; and generating an online environment incorporating the selected background image and the rendered icons, including the integrated icon at the particular position in the background image, for rendering to the user, wherein the online environment displays updated user-customizable data associated with the rendered icons.