Abstract: A method and apparatus for selecting a setting within a selected view mode for displaying one or more items in a screen display. Continuous and discrete controls are simultaneously presented to the user. Input is accepted from either the continuous control or from the discrete control. The input mechanism can be a hardware device, such as a keyboard or mouse, or a software control presented in a graphical user interface. The continuous control includes a setting range display, visually indicating the range over which the setting may be adjusted, and a setting selection indicator visually indicating the current selection. The discrete setting control has a mode range display and a set of one or more discrete default settings which are available for selection.

Abstract: A style identifier is associated with each of a plurality of media clips stored in a database, based on a subjective evaluation of various characteristics of each media clip by an expert. The style represented by the style identifier corresponds to an impression on the expert regarding various qualities of the media clip and is not constrained by the subject of the media clip. Media clips with which style identifiers are associated can be any form of digital media, such as clip art files, sound files, photographs, animation files, fonts, etc. Also associated with each media clip in the database is an absolute ranking value for each of a plurality of different attributes based on a subjective evaluation of each media clip by an expert. A user can search the database for media clips associated with a specific style identifier and can sort the media clips that were identified by a search, based upon the absolute ranking value for a selected attribute.