Dynamic HTML

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and in the past it was the main language used in creating web pages. A dynamic HTML is a combination of HTML, tags and options in order to make a web page more animated and interactive than older versions.

Examples of dynamic HTML include:

·         Colours changing when the mouse hovers over the top of the link

·         Allowing a user to drag and drop an image to another page

·         Dynamic menus and text effects

Below is an example of dynamic HTML text that is used in creating web pages

 XHTML

This stands for Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language. All the variables must be in lowercase letters and all values assigned to variables must be surrounded by quotation marks. This differs from HTML as it is more forgivable as it will work with capitals and not in quotation marks. It was intended to gain clean and clutter free coding that is needed to further enhance webpage creation. One of the main reasons it was introduced is that it can be viewed in different browsers and still look and act the same.

Below is an example of XTHML text and the difference form dynamic html is that it is case sensitive

Java Applets

A Java applet is a small application which is written in Java and delivered to users in the form of bytecode. The user launches the Java applet from a web page, and the applet is then executed within a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in a process separate from the web browser itself. Some animated gifs are made from java applets.

GIF And Animated GIF

A gif is a lossless format, this means that no quality is lost when the file is compressed, it is used for image files that supports both animated and static images. An animated gif is a gif that moves an example of this is a horse running on the spot or a twirling icon.  The animated GIF does this by having a sequence of graphics being shown one after another, this gives the illusion of movement. Gifs are used mainly on web pages as they are normally pixel based.

Advantages of gifs are:

·         Small file sizes

·         Support transparent backgrounds

·         Shows movements

·         High resolution

·         Easy to move to and from a website

Disadvantages of gifs are:

·         maximum colour palette of 256 colours

·         once the animation has been coded into the actual GIF file there is no way to go back and edit the image

·         dependent on internet connection

·         images can look grainy, jerky or even both

·         have to keep the file size low so image might not be of the best quality

Below is an example of a GIF from the cartoon show The Simpsons

SWF Animation

SWF stands for small web format and is a file extension for shockwave flash file format which is created by Macromedia, this is now owned by adobe. These files can contain video and vector based animations both with sound. They are designed directly for internet use. These files can be viewed in a web browser using the flash plug in.

Advantages of this are:

·         Easily scaled as they are vector based

·         SWF is fast loading

·         Offers a transparent option

Disadvantages of this are:

·         Does not run on all browsers and requires a flash plug in

·         Heavy CPU load

·         Needs expensive software to create

Below is an example if an SWF animation, as they are vector based they can be easily resized

Below is a timeline of animation through the history