writing » net notables
In this column we're going to take a look at a couple of designers who are sliding along the bleeding edge of Dynamic HTML (DHTML), creating layered and kinetic websites, on which page elements move and slide around the screen, mouse-over events cause graphics and data to fly-out instantaneously, and the whole design responds and shifts to a viewer's activities.
DHTML has been around for over a year, but, as usual with new web protocols, Netscape and Microsoft are fighting over a standard implementation. Code that works in one browser, will not work in another, so, consequently, designers who are mandated to reach the widest audience possible are afraid to implement these new tricks into their work.
Within the next few months, we have been promised a standard that will work equally well on both platforms, but that hasn't stopped some designers from experimenting with the new code.
Essentially, DHTML allows complete control over the placing of the elements on screen, with precise x,y axis co-ordinates, and a third dimension, z which controls layering objects on top of each other.
Combine this power with scripting languages such as javascript or VBscript, which can handle events such as mouse clicks and mouse-overs and an entire series of screens can be loaded with one file call- anticipating the next moves of your viewer. A 4.x browser is required to view these sites (which are best viewed in Netscape 4.0- sorry Bill ;-)
The latest trend among designers is the i-resume, an interactive show-off
piece using DHTML, which gives a CD rom quality to these works.
This resume for designer Geraldo Garcia appears simple and elegant, and communicates well. What you can't see in this magazine, is how the blocks of text move seamlessly off and on the screen with a click, and how the navigational graphics twitch and react to the mouse.
It appears very simple, but what is going on behind the scenes is quite complex. The above URL is just a shell file, that contains a bit of javascript to open a new window, which is locked at Geraldo's desired dimensions. If you want to see the code view the source of the actual file — address below — that does the work. More and more, web designers are having to become hardcore programming gearheads to make this kind of magic happen.
Mirco Pasqualini a designer from Rovigo Italy, has also fashioned a
self-promotional piece,
that combines DHTML and Macromedia Shockwave files for a
very impressive multi-media experience.
This one even has a funky soundtrack, courtesy of the Shockwave file. Layering and floating navigation toolbars are used effectively, especially in his gallery “Book 97”.
Marco effectively uses status bars, to show the loading of graphic files, so you don't have to stare at those damn Netscape meteors flying by while waiting for files to download.
As in the above example, the layering techniques used here are effective, for the most part, and enrich the experience. Because this is a show-off creation, the “over-designed” aspects of this kind of work are forgivable.
We await the day when a standard has been declared for this kind of code, and it can move into the mainstream. I'm sure many web creators have back burner projects just waiting to jump out on the web on the day that happens. When the web is consistently this rich, compelling, and intuitively designed- through the use of these types of protocols — we will have achieved the next generation of web communication content.
The bar is rising again. AAAAHHH! Another paradigm shift! Oh well, that's life on the infobahn.
Net Notables appears several times a year in Applied Arts, Canada's premiere graphic design magazine
