A system and method is described for visually editing a stacked object in a design view canvas of an application development environment. Within the design view canvas, a badge control is rendered that is associated with the stacked object. A set of one or more navigation tools is contained within the badge control along with a set of one or more editing tools. When the user interacts with the navigation tools, presentation of the information contained by the stacked object is controlled. When the user interacts with the editing tools, the content and composition of the stacked object can be manipulated.