JavaScript Demos:
Dynamic Moving Text.

jim.cerny@unh.edu   13-AUG-1998

Discussion.

The term "dynamic HTML" takes on various meanings, and most of the JavaScript examples in this seminar meet current definitions -- but this example, with its animation, would meet even an ambitious definition.

For reference here are a couple of definitions:

"Dynamic HTML" is a term used by some vendors to describe the combination of HTML, style sheets and scripts that allows documents to be animated. W3C.

Today Dynamic HTML refers to technologies that allow documents to be changed after their initial display, without server access, through user interaction and client-side scripting. WebReference

Trying to understand just how this JavaScript works is way beyond the scope of this seminar. It is presented here both as a demonstration and as an example that you can modify by studying the commented variables in the code. This basic script was developed by Anne-Marie Fiore as part of a personal portfolio to demonstrate her skills.

When running the script, speed of the system makes a big difference. For example, on a fast 200MHz Pentium Pro Windows NT system, the motion is smooth and you can't see each step, while on an old 60MHz Macintosh PowerPC, the motion is slow and you can easily see each step. Oh yes, the Latin phrase "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" translates as "Who watches the watchers?"