1. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor, a method of preparing an application for deployment, the method comprising: presenting the structure of an application package through an arrangement of one or more visual elements; altering the structure of the application package by altering application package element references associated with the arrangement of one or more visual elements; the processor transforming the altered structure of the application package into one or more manifest files by traversing the altered structure of the application package in accordance with the altered application package element references; and bundling the one or more manifest files into a deployment format expected by product deployment software.