OPAQUE VIEWS FOR GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES

A system and method of rendering a graphical user interface for a media based device which employs techniques for layering graphical elements. The method includes providing a background layer for the graphical user interface and graphical layers over the background layer. The method also superimposing an opaque view over a portion of the translucent graphic layer and marking the opaque view as opaque so that the portion of the translucent layer is not redrawn when the content in the opaque view is altered.