User interface (UI) color scheme generation and management according to visual consistency of visual attributes in the color scheme

1. A method of generating a user interface (UI) visual presentation attribute scheme while preserving visual consistency of selected visual presentation attributes in the color scheme, the method comprising:

establishing a hierarchy of UI elements in a directed acyclic graph of nodes, each node corresponding to a different UI element and specifying a visual presentation attribute corresponding to the different UI element of the node, the hierarchy defining different pairs of parent-child relationships amongst the nodes;

establishing a transformation rule for each of the different pairs of parent-child relationships;

assigning a visual presentation attribute to a parent one of the nodes in the hierarchy;

computing a visual presentation attribute for each child node descending from the parent one of the nodes according to an established transformation rule; and,

exporting the hierarchy into a visual presentation attribute scheme.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual presentation attribute is a color and the visual presentation attribute scheme is a color scheme.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transformation rule comprises assigning to a child node a same visual presentation attribute as a corresponding parent node.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing color text for a child node according to a luminosity of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a relief color for a child node according to a red color value in a red-green-blue (RGB) model from a white background color of a corresponding parent node.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a gray color from a brightness value in a hue-saturation-brightness (HSV) model of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a complementary color from an RGB model of a background color of a parent node and computing a red color value derived from a red component of an RGB model value of a white color of the parent node.

8. A user interface (UI) color scheme generation data processing system configured for generating a UI color scheme while preserving visual consistency of selected visual presentation attributes in the color scheme, the system comprising:

a host computing system comprising at least one computer with at least one processor and memory;

an operating system executing in the host computing system;

an application hosted by the operating system; and,

a color scheme generation module comprising program code executing in the memory of the host computing system and enabled to perform a method comprising:

establishing a hierarchy of UI elements in a directed acyclic graph of nodes, each node corresponding to a different UI element and specifying a color corresponding to the different UI element of the node, the hierarchy defining different pairs of parent-child relationships amongst the nodes;

establishing a transformation rule for each of the different pairs of parent-child relationships;

assigning a color to a parent one of the nodes in the hierarchy;

computing a color for each child node descending from the parent one of the nodes according to an established transformation rule; and,

applying the hierarchy as a color scheme for the application.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the transformation rule comprises assigning to a child node a same color as a corresponding parent node.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing color text for a child node according to a luminosity of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a relief color for a child node according to a red color value in a red-green-blue (RGB) model from a white background color of a corresponding parent node.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a gray color from a brightness value in a hue-saturation-brightness (HSV) model of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a complementary color from an RGB model of a background color of a parent node and computing a red color value derived from a red component of an RGB model value of a white color of the parent node.

14. A computer program product for generating a user interface (UI) visual presentation attribute scheme while preserving visual consistency of selected visual presentation attributes in the color scheme, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code for establishing a hierarchy of UI elements in a directed acyclic graph of nodes, each node corresponding to a different UI element and specifying a visual presentation attribute corresponding to the different UI element of the node, the hierarchy defining different pairs of parent-child relationships amongst the nodes;

computer readable program code for establishing a transformation rule for each of the different pairs of parent-child relationships;

computer readable program code for assigning a visual presentation attribute to a parent one of the nodes in the hierarchy;

computer readable program code for computing a visual presentation attribute for each child node descending from the parent one of the nodes according to an established transformation rule; and,

computer readable program code for exporting the hierarchy into a visual presentation attribute scheme.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the visual presentation attribute is a color and the visual presentation attribute scheme is a color scheme.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the transformation rule comprises assigning to a child node a same visual presentation attribute as a corresponding parent node.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing color text for a child node according to a luminosity of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a relief color for a child node according to a red color value in a red-green-blue (RGB) model from a white background color of a corresponding parent node.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a gray color from a brightness value in a hue-saturation-brightness (HSV) model of a background color of a corresponding parent node.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the transformation rule comprises computing a complementary color from an RGB model of a background color of a parent node and computing a red color value derived from a red component of an RGB model value of a white color of the parent node.