Painting user controls

Abstract

The described implementations relate to dynamically painting user-controls. One method dynamically determines a highlight color of a user-control under a cursor on a graphical user-interface. The method also paints at least a portion of the user-control with the highlight color.

1 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . A computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform acts, comprising:
 identifying a group of related user-controls on a graphical user-interface, wherein an individual user-control includes an icon; and,   painting at least portions of the user-controls of the group with a color that is dynamically selected from information relating to the icon.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 18 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying the group that relates to a specific application. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 18 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying the group that relates to a web-site. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 18 , wherein at least a second individual user-control includes a second icon. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 21 , wherein the color is a dominant color of the icon and the second icon. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 21 , wherein the group of related user-controls are arranged horizontally on a user interface. 
     
     
         24 . A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:
 identifying a group of related user-controls having corresponding icons included therein;   displaying the group of related user-controls on a graphical interface with the corresponding icons included therein; and   painting the related user-controls of the group with a highlight color that is selected based on a first color of a first one of the corresponding icons.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the highlight color is selected dynamically. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the painting comprises painting portions of the related user-controls with the highlight color. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein each of the related user-controls is associated with a particular functionality. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the functionality is email functionality. 
     
     
         29 . A computing device having stored computer-executable instructions that when executed by the computing device perform operations comprising:
 displaying multiple user controls on a graphical user interface; and   painting the multiple user controls with a highlight color to indicate that the multiple user controls relate to a common application or a common functionality.   
     
     
         30 . The computing device of  claim 29 , wherein the multiple user controls comprise corresponding icons that each share a dominant color. 
     
     
         31 . The computing device of  claim 30 , wherein the highlight color is the dominant color. 
     
     
         32 . The computing device of  claim 30 , wherein the highlight color is complementary to the dominant color. 
     
     
         33 . The computing device of  claim 30 , the operations further comprising:
 sorting pixels of at least one of the corresponding icons; and   determining the dominant color using the sorted pixels.   
     
     
         34 . The computing device of  claim 33 , the operations further comprising:
 excluding at least one of white, black, or grey pixels of the sorted pixels when determining the dominant color.   
     
     
         35 . The computing device of  claim 29 , wherein the painting occupies only part of the multiple user controls and other parts of the multiple user controls remain unpainted. 
     
     
         36 . The computing device of  claim 29 , embodied as a smartphone. 
     
     
         37 . The computing device of  claim 29 , embodied as a server computer or a personal computer.