17. A computer-implemented method comprising: instantiating a first user interface (UI) object; instantiating a plurality of second objects, each of said second objects representing a rule in a hierarchy of rules, said second objects being ordered in a prototype pointer chain, the order of said prototype pointer chain corresponding to the hierarchy of rules, wherein each of said second objects includes at least one property that is a style; traversing said prototype pointer chain to find a desired one of said styles to apply to said first object; and processing, via a processor, instructions stored on computer-readable storage medium to render an application comprising the first UI object, wherein a visual appearance of the first UI object is affected by the desired style instantiating a plurality of third objects, each of said third objects representing a rule in said hierarchy of rules, said third objects being ordered in a second prototype pointer chain, the order of said second prototype pointer chain corresponding to said hierarchy of rules and associated with said first user interface object and with one or more supertype objects of said first user interface object, wherein each of said third objects includes at least one property that is a style; and traversing said second prototype pointer chin to find a desired style to apply to said first object.
17. A computer-implemented method comprising: instantiating a first user interface (UI) object; instantiating a plurality of second objects, each of said second objects representing a rule in a hierarchy of rules, said second objects being ordered in a prototype pointer chain, the order of said prototype pointer chain corresponding to the hierarchy of rules, wherein each of said second objects includes at least one property that is a style; traversing said prototype pointer chain to find a desired one of said styles to apply to said first object; and processing, via a processor, instructions stored on computer-readable storage medium to render an application comprising the first UI object, wherein a visual appearance of the first UI object is affected by the desired style instantiating a plurality of third objects, each of said third objects representing a rule in said hierarchy of rules, said third objects being ordered in a second prototype pointer chain, the order of said second prototype pointer chain corresponding to said hierarchy of rules and associated with said first user interface object and with one or more supertype objects of said first user interface object, wherein each of said third objects includes at least one property that is a style; and traversing said second prototype pointer chin to find a desired style to apply to said first object. 18. The method of claim 17 wherein said prototype pointer chain corresponds to non-inheriting properties of said first object.