Inventions on Using Colors in Graphical User Interfaces

Color is an important aspect of any graphical user interface. Color is used to improve various aspects of the GUI, such as: Making the GUI more attractive, Differentiating one item or group of items from the other. For example, showing currently selected item or window in a different color. Assigning weights to components by using intensity of color. Soothing to different moods, personalities etc. However, there are difficulties in using colors too. Improper use of color can give adverse effects. Wrong colors at wrong place make the GUI look clumsy and confusing. Besides the aesthetics issues there are many other issues involved with colors. For example; Displaying and selection of as many as 16 million colors. For example, it is desirable that the color scheme of a GUI is customizable by the user. But it may have adverse effects, such as; the user may have to alter the color schemes in every computer he uses. Again the altered color scheme may be confusing for another person who wishes to use that system. This situation creates the following contradiction. " The color of the GUI should be customizable to suit user preference. But at the same time it should not be customizable, as that will cause annoyance and confusion to others. " Taking another example, the user should be able to precisely select from all 16 million colors. But displaying all 16 million colors will be confusing to the user. This creates the following contradiction. " The user should be displayed all 16 million colors to select the desired color precisely, and the user should not be displayed all 16 million colors as that would create confusion and difficulty in selection. " There are many more contradictions relating to use of color in GUI. Let's discuss some of the inventions on GUI color selection and analyze how they resolve the existing contradictions to solve the problem. Background problem There is a need to display all 16 million colors and permit the user to choose from among the 16 million colors including their hue, saturation and luminance. The prior art (Apple Mac-II) has disposed a two-dimensional color circle with varying hue and saturation levels. The user chooses a color from a palette of 256 colors and then corrects it by choosing a luminance level from the luminance bar and hue and saturation levels from the color circle. Upon choosing a luminance level …