Layered customization of a help user interface

A method and system are disclosed for configuring and generating a customized help user interface. The disclosed method and system are based on a technique that includes incorporating a reference to a help content source in a customizable metadata layer of a plurality of metadata layers. Each metadata layer of the plurality of metadata layers includes respective instruction sets that define the help user interface in accordance with a layer precedence. The help content source is then stored as part of a collection of discrete sources of help content. When the help user interface is later rendered, the layer precedence determines whether the help content source referenced in the customizable metadata layer or one or more of the other discrete sources of help content in the collection is utilized by a interface-rendering engine that generates the help user interface.