Methods for rendering electronic ink with highlighting attributes include: (a) receiving data representing at least one electronic ink stroke including a highlighting attribute; (b) rendering a first highlighting stroke in a first dimension and in a first highlighting color and/or pattern; and (c) rendering an ink color stroke in an ink color and/or pattern and in a second dimension that is smaller than the first dimension to produce a composite stroke that has a highlighted appearance. When the highlighted stroke is selected, this stroke may be rendered with a third, inner layer that is narrower than the ink colored layer, in a highlight color and/or pattern. This invention also relates to systems and computer-readable media for performing these methods, and to data structures that include a highlight attribute with electronic ink data.