I've been thinking that the key to this is to get any page up and running in its simplest state and then layer in the goodies like filters, gradients, shapes, animations, etc. That way the user can see what's there before getting impatient and leaving. This could get messy because you would have to keep track of each widget's visual state so if the user went on to another "page", you could continue to complete the "layering" after the widgets are displayed/hidden as needed.
It would also be great to be able to preload the most likely widgets the user will use next after the page is fully loaded so they could be visually finalized before displaying them. Memory usage will probally approach that of an normal application: just need to find creative ways of loading the widgets a little at a time. Something ought to be on the user's screen within the first few seconds of linking to the page. Couldn't get your old example to load. These messages are really helping me to clarify this concept. Thanks for your input. dave --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Alastair Fettes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dave, > > Wow, you just got the entire idea behind how I intend to make multi- > form applications using SPARK. That is exactly the way that I intend > to do things. Basically you author your entire application (a web > page may be considered an "application") in one SVG document and you > hide/show each "view" (window/form/frame/etc) as you go through the > application. Hide/show operations are performed by simply changing > the class attribute to use a predefined CSS class called "hide" which > has display:none (or could be opacity:0). This is all very quick and > will also speed up rendering because the scripting doesn't really > slow down if there aren't many objects on the screen that are visible. > > One thing for you to keep in mind when you do this is memory > constraints and trying to avoid having too many script objects loaded > at one time. A way to solve this problem is to dynamically > load/unload portions of your application as they become necessary. I > did an example of this a while ago using a very old version of my > widgets. The example can be found at: > http://www.schemasoft.org/resources/samples/afettes/demo0/simpleExampl > e.svg > > Note that the "Parent Window" is static when the page is first > loaded. When you click the "Enable/Show Window 2" button the "Parent > Window" becomes active as it's window controller is loaded and the > window becomes dynamic. > > Jim, > > My idea of a "web widget" is basically any form of interactive GUI > component. The interaction does not necessarily have to be user > initiated as it could simply be say a status window. As for using > DHTML over SVG I can't say I agree. The differences between a 100% > script based SVG app and a DHTML app don't seem to be too much but if > you reduce the amount of script used (say for svg creation) and > increase the amount of declarative SVG all of a sudden SVG apps > become very powerful. The problem with using DHTML as a user > interface technology is that it has very specific layout rules and > getting around them is a pain in the butt. SVG doesn't have any of > these layout problems (though it has it's own layout deficencies such > as no text flow, can you tell I'm looking forward to SVG 1.2?) so > therefore it gives the programmer the ability to think outside of the > box (or in DHTML's case the <table/>!). > > Anyways, just my thoughts on the matter. > > Cheers, > Alastair > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "orchidsonline" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > What's a web widget? > > > > > > Good question. My view is that it is an object that: > > > > 1. has a predefined default look and behavior > > > > 2. can respond to user events from any widget on the web page, if > > necessary > > > > 3. is modular > > > > 4. and can use svg to give it some pizaaaaz..... > > > > Examples are header, footer, columns, menu, buttons, text > containers, > > forms, various parts of a shopping cart, tabbed folder.... Almost > > anything that you see on a webpage can be made and packaged as a > > widget. > > > > I plan to design a one-page website using these widgets (in effect, > a > > web application like Mozilla's XUL). There is no reason to link to > > other pages within a site when you can just hide widgets and show > > widgets for each page. Fade-outs and fade-ins, etc., could be used > > as visual clues. Need to keep track of "state" rather than changing > > pages. Can use JSRS to communicate with the server and database. > > > > I believe that as broadband use increases web users will demand > that > > a site provide more than just info.; I think that effective, > > interactive visual content will also become more and more > important. > > > > > > dave > > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Jim Ley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > "orchidsonline" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message > > > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > I am just getting into SVG and XML from a DHTML-PHP-MYSQL > > mentality > > > > and am excited about the creative possibilities. But is SVG > > ready to > > > > be used as a replacement for DHTML yet? > > > > > > No, SVG is not at all an appropriate replacement for DHTML, DHTML > > is the > > > dominant technology and much more appropriate than SVG for almost > > > everything - of course there's lots of things DHTML can't do, and > > this is > > > where you should be looking at SVG - mapping and charts are the > > obvious > > > choices. > > > > > > > 2. Any thoughts/suggests concerning coding web widgets using > SVG? > > > > > > What's a web widget? > > > > > > Jim. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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