Preserved Topic: good and useful DHTML animation

A lot of DHTML animation that I see is kind of cheesy, and doesn't really serve a purpose. This is no attack on DHTML specifically; lots of gif and Flash animation is also cheesy and pointless. Does anyone have any examples of DHTML animation that is pretty cool, and maybe even purposeful?

"They mostly come out at night. Mostly." - Newt, Aliens

A very cool (and usefull) dhtml piece by our very own doc can be found here.

I don't think most of the dhtml around is directly usefull, but the point of most of it (at least the pieces that are good) is to make a point more clear to the user. Most of the content could probably be displayed with a simple menu + content layout, but that wouldn't look as good etc.




-= Veneficuz =-
"Mundus vult decipi. Ergo decipiatur."

Useful is certainly an arguable point. We could argue that anything other than text and hyperlinks is not useful. The idea I have in mind is something that enhances the page, without being so flashy that it steals the show, or so cheesy that it makes you want to weep.

The one on Doc's page was very nice, by the way; I feel that it definitely enhanced the page.

"They mostly come out at night. Mostly." - Newt, Aliens

Some people like these, others wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

Animated Rollover Menus
Fading Rollovers 1
Fading Rollovers 2
Animated News Scroller
And of course you can have interfaces with animation
Left side slide menu
Fading Rollover IFC
Animated Centering Interface

cool

and

purposeful, yes:

tons by Bugs, a few of my favorites:
? http://www.bugimus.com/buguest/dguest.php
? http://www.bugimus.com/photos/
? http://www.bugimus.com/gurus/index.html
Slime is pretty good too
? http://www.slimeland.com/cyanslime/
pixelflo is neat as a mutha:
? http://pixelflo.com
and Doc's the man since day 1:
? http://www.ozones.com/
(you'll never fiind the end of this site)
Brent Gustafson ain't cool enough to hang out here but he's aiight:
? http://xlat.assembler.org (dag this is cool)

Jason

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

OK, I use my DHTML dropdown menu at www.PrimalContent.com for cramming in *many* many links, and I think it is *damn* useful in this context. (You should see the admin menu, 12 categories, each with maybe 4-6 choices under them, all easily organized and fitting on the page. A good thing.) So! I'll include the ability to organize and display many many links on one page (with no scrolling) as useful app #1.

OK; truly useful app #2? Above we discussed using DHTML to hide all the extra menu choices, but you can also use this to hide extra *content* as well. A friend of mine has used this at his work to build a 'wizard' of sorts, with 8 hidden <div>s each with <form>s in them. From a usabilty standpoint, the next step on the wizard appears instantly, and the programmer doesn't need to pass all of the filled variables from one page, to the next, to the next... Trust me, this is a good thing. At any time in this process the user can 'submit', and all of the values they've entered are saved, and the others will wait till next time.

Hmm, those are the two main obvious "benefits", the ability to display more stuff on a page than will fit on a page, be it links or content. I also use the remote loading of external URLs into my existing page, I find that adds real benefit too.

Oh, did I mention that you can make things swoop around, just like Flash do? Woo-hoo!

Your pal, -doc-

PS: Ooh! I almost forgot my favorite "useful" application of DHTML, at the International Herald Tribune. Look at their article display, here... http://www.iht.com/articles/56655.html Great stuff!



[This message has been edited by DocOzone (edited 05-04-2002).]

On the topic of "useful" items; a co-worker, apparently in an attempt to steal my thunder, told me that web design was a useless field to major in, because "surveys show that people don't go to the web to see pictures and pretty graphics; they are looking for information". I think he was ticked off because, since I started going to school, I'm better at Photoshop than he is. Anyway, my response to him was that sure, we go to the web for information, but how many average web users surf with the graphics disabled? Studies also show that a page of nothing but text becomes cumbersome on the web; people want easy navigation, which is a design element. People also want pictures and graphics to frame the content and to break it up. Plus, a well designed web site looks professional. How many times have you found a page that just looked really un-professional, and you left because you felt the company may not be reliable or you didn't take them seriously?

So as I say, we could argue that anything other than a white page with black text and blue hyperlinks is excessive, and not purposeful. But design elements, including DHTML, definitely serve a very strong purpose.

InI, give me links to your work! Please!

"They mostly come out at night. Mostly." - Newt, Aliens

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Try the Alladyn Library...
http://alladyn.art.pl

Very good and only 2K...

I NEED to check back in this forum more often.

"No Flash here!" YES!!! Love that.

Dang it! I wanted to link that article that twItch^ wrote about Flash, I've lost it.

. . : newThing