Abstract

A data processing system edits a text document stored as at least one alphanumeric string of structured document text and displayed as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text. Look characteristics are controlled for a child document element of the text located within a parent document element of the text. The method performs the step of constructing a child resolved look data set necessary to specify a WYSIWYG appearance of the child element by first accessing modified look value customized by the user for first look parameters and accessing defined look values standardized for second look parameters. For those look parameters which are not customized by the user or which are not defined as standard values for the child element, the values are inherited by the child element from the parent element. To do this, the method performs the step of augmenting the child resolved look data set by accessing at least one of the plurality of look values in the parent resolved look data set which does not correspond to the first or the second look parameters. The resulting resolved look can completely specify the appearance of the child portion of the text when displayed in WYSIWYG form on a display, or when printed in hard copy.