A system and method for defining the zoom response, or behavior, of a display object independently of other display objects performs a selective zoom response to a zoom level. Selective zoom response provides each display object individual zoom response logic to determine the manner of display at given zoom levels. Accordingly, display object behavior is definable on a per object basis. The zoom function triggers particular operations at a given zoom level for modifying attributes of a display object that affect the visual appearance, thus modifying the zoom behavior of the display object. Since each display object has a different zoom response logic, different display objects respond independently to a particular zoom level as appropriate for the display object. Therefore, the zoom response is object specific since each display object has its own set of attributes and zoom logic affecting those attributes.