Method and apparatus for expanding and contracting graphical function displays

A computer-implemented graphical user interface method, comprising:

• providing a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools;
• in response to a first user input selecting the first icon, displaying a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools;
• in response to a second user input, generating an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools and removing the secondary list;
• and in response to a third user input, contracting the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.

A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to;

• provide a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools;
• and in response to a first user input, generate an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools;
• wherein the toolbar includes other icons and wherein instructions operable to generate an expanded toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools comprise instructions operable to:
• remove the first icon from a position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar and include the plurality of icons in the same position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar.

A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

• provide a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools;
• in response to a first user input selecting the first icon, display a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools;
• in response to a second user input, generate an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools and remove the secondary list;
• and in response to a third user input, contract the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.