1. A method of creating a visual style for a set of graphical components for use on a computer system having a graphical operating environment, comprising: providing a schema file of available graphical components for which a visual style can be created, each graphical component being defined by a unique class name, wherein each class includes at least one part identified by a part name and each part includes at least one state such that each graphical component is identified by at least a corresponding class name and a corresponding part name; and selecting a graphical component within a specified unique class and having a specified part name and a specified state from said schema file of graphical components, that are desired to have a defined visual style and assigning properties to said selected graphical component according to said defined visual style.