A recent survey in my imagination revealed that:
99% of people don't go "wow" because, not having the experience of attempting to build anything remotely like it, they don't see how clever it is.
Half the rest go "wow" because, having experience, they see it is clever, but don't quite understand the technique, and are thus "impressed". (That was me).
The other 0.5% (including you; congratulations!) see it is clever, and can surmise the technique, and thus give it credit as cutting-edge, but not to the extent of a "wow".
And now I understand it, even how the light was done.
Next?
At 06:02 PM 18/12/2004, Andrew Krespanis wrote:
> It is that sense of seeing art at the cutting-edge of science that makes us > go "wow".
Good point John, I can't argue with that :) The backgrounds are great, the css is cutting edge. That doesn't make it a great design though.
> Could the people who think it is so non-wow, please explain to us in a few > simple words, how it is done? Then I am going to do something similar by > afternoon-tea time....
I haven't looked at the css, but if I was trying to achieve this it would be setup something like: diver : top layer (z-index), fixed positioning, 24-bit png. gradient: second layer, attached to top, 24-bit png. light: bottom layer, fixed positioning, 24-bit png.
Everything else would be animated gifs on :hover states, two reasons the effect doesn't work in IE. The ocen floor is either a photo or render, treasure chest added after the fact. Crab is animated gif, drawn over the sand but cut back to binary transparency.
That said, the conception of such a technique is usually more work than the application, and this technique is pretty damn slick. What I should have said is that while the 'diver trick' is cool, I don't rate it amongst my favourite zen entries.
Andrew.
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