An application programmer may choose from several alternative different methods for placing dynamically added icons in a graphical user interface (GUI) environment. The application program can pick the appropriate method depending on the situation, which often may involve reacting to a particular user action. The method is implemented in a graphical user interface environment on a computer. The application program selects one of the alternative choices for the placement of dynamically added icons. The selection by the application program is based on particular circumstances as determined by an application programmer of the application program. The dynamically added icon is placed on the display screen according to a procedure corresponding to a selected one of the alternate choices. The dynamically added icons may represent containers holding objects, such as executable programs, database records, graphic images, word processing files, or another container which itself can hold objects.