[Pdx-pm] Portable Animation in web browsers

[Joshua Keroes]

On 1/15/07, Andrew Clapp <andrew.clapp at gmail.com> wrote:
> My apologies, the correct link to the code I'm trying to emulate is here:
>
> http://sorgalla.com/jcarousel/

You want something like a Fisheye/OSX Dock widget? That's a
browser/client-side technology. Perl is a server-side technology.
There won't be an all-perl solution to your problem.

You've got three portable-ish options: DHTML, AJAX, or plugin.

Let's cover the plug-in first. Flash. Flash will do what you want. It
has a large installed base. Enough said.

Next, you've got DHTML (aka Javascript on the client-side) and AJAX
(aka Javascript + a server-side backend). Choosing one or the other
depends on whether you know what all of the items in your widget need
to do at load-time (DHTML). If they're supposed to get more info or
massage data on the backend, you need AJAX.

Looks like you want a side-scrolling menu. With buttons. If that's
being used to go to different webpages or download programs, then
DHTML will suffice. If it's being used to display large images, then
you'll save bandwidth by using AJAX and serving images when the AJAX
client-side demands it.

There are several off-the-shelf so-called AJAX kits that blend the two
and export a bunch of useful widgets. I've used other widgets in Dojo
before, and while I've had issues dealing with layout (padding,
primarily), they seem to get stuff right most of the time. Or I was
getting CSS things wrong some of the time; that's a good possibility,
too. I'm not a CSS ninja.

Anyway, check out Dojo's Fisheye widget [1]. it might do what you're
looking for. If it doesn't, check out the various other AJAX libraries
[2]. In particular, see if Yahoo (YUI) or Google's libraries will do
what you want.

-Joshua

[1] http://dojotoolkit.org -> see it in action -> general widgets -> fisheye
[2] http://www.google.com/search?q=related%3Adojotoolkit.org