How to Create a Dynamic HTML Navigation Page
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Learn how to devote an entire page to an image-driven, DHTML navigation system. This code from Dan Wellman will result in a fully functioning, interactive navigation page that loads a new page whenever a specified location of the window is passed over by the central image.
Dynamic HTML, as the name suggests, was brought about to enable developers to produce text and graphics that are not static and fixed in position. The possibilities this brings to Web design are limitless; visitors to your site are more likely to stay longer and come back more often if your site offers interest and interactivity.
One of the Internet's best features is the pure diversity of website presentation; many sites are built to a kind of web page blueprint, incorporating similar features, but showcased in different ways. Take navigation menus for example; they generally confirm to either vertical menus to the left of the screen, or horizontal menus at the top of the page. Two basic ideas, which are implemented in many different ways.
The purpose of this article is to show you not how to code your own navigation menu; it's to show you how to devote an entire page to an image-driven, DHTML navigation system. Think of a central image, with control buttons beneath it, and smaller images encompassing it. Visitors select the various pages of your site by maneuvering the central image to one of the satellite images. A simple concept, but an innovative approach.
The pictures you decide to use can be completely random or can play along with the general theme of your site; a car dealership for instance could use cars. This kind of interaction can be an irresistible addiction for some surfers and can lend itself especially well to a vastly untapped audience - children.
Even if it's something you never plan to implement, by the end of the article you should have a very good grasp of image manipulation and movement using nothing but DHTML.
Next: Web Animation Doesn't Always Mean Flash >>
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