Handling Images in a 3D Table Image Gallery

Do you always have to click a button to see the next set (plane) of images in the 3D table? You can write code such that one set of images is displayed; you are given some time to glance through the images. Then the next set is displayed; you are given some time to glance through the images. And you can have it continue in this manner. If you like any image, you click it to maximize it. After seeing it in its maximized form, you click it to restore it. This is our main objective in this section.

While the sets (planes) are automatically changing, it would be nice to give the user the possibility of freezing a plane on the screen. So we shall provide a button that will halt the changing process at any plane whose pictures really interest the user. He will have as much time as he wants to look through the images, and to maximize and restore any of them. This is our second objective.

It would also be nice for us to allow the user to change the sets manually as we saw in the previous part of the series. This is our third and last objective. There will be a button for this.

Operation from the User’s Point of View

As soon as the page is loaded, the set (planes) will start changing automatically. Of course the first plane will be displayed for some time before the next one comes. The time interval I have given is 15 seconds. In your own project, you can increase this time or decrease it, depending on the number of pictures per plane. The more the pictures you provide per plane, the longer you should make the time interval! Of course the number should not be high, otherwise the purpose of automating the display would be defeated.

While the planes are changing, the user can click any image to maximize and restore it. While an image is maximized, the automatic changing process stops. It resumes when the user clicks the image to restore it.

While the automatic process is going on, if the user sees a set that really interests him and he wants more time to look through it, he can click a button to freeze the set on the screen. While the plane is in its frozen state, he can maximize or restore any image. To switch from a frozen state back to the automatically changing state, there will be another button, which he can click to achieve this.

The will be another button for manual viewing. While in the automatic state, if he clicks this button, he will see the next plane. If he wants to see the following plane, he has to click the button again. To see the next plane (set) means clicking this button. When one plane is on the screen, you can maximize or restore an image. The effect of this button is like freezing one plane after another. To go out of the manual phase, and continue in the automatic phase, there will be another button, which he can click to achieve this. This button is the same as the one to move from the frozen state to the automatic state.

That is what the user has to know. The next question is, “How will the user know what he has to do without a help file?” There are so many applications today. The easier you make it for the user to use your application, the more he is attracted to it. In this case, the web page opens in the automatic mode. The names of the buttons should reveal their functions. The position of the buttons should be conspicuous. With these facts in mind, you should not need a help file.