how are they doing this?

[frankc]

I marvel at all the neat stuff that's out there that I just don't unnerstand (and these days, that's most everything!). %)

If you go to http://www.motivesys.com and click on either the "What's New..." or "Download..." areas, it pops up a pair of lil' up/down arrows that controls movement of text in a box above.

Snooping in the source, I see the javascript tags for "div id=container" and "div id=content"; is that where they're manipulating this, or is it at the start of the "script language='javascript'"? A buddy wants to learn more about how to do this, but it's just not my thing. Anyone have any pointers to learn more 'bout this technique, to start with?

Thanks!

Frank

[Jeff]

Take a look at http://www.dhtmlcentral.com/ and specifically http://www.dhtmlcentral.com/script/script16.asp

I don't know if you have ever visited bratta.com, but dhtmlcentral.com is also the work of the dhtml genius Thomas Brattli.

[Maverick]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd chalk up that little script as a way not to use DHTML. Some people are a little too impressed with how clever they are and make things harder to use just to show off. If you want to scroll through a block of text, the scroll bar on the right side of the screen does an excellent job. Adding in some DHTML goodies to handle it instead seems a bit stupid. It's less intuitive since the arrows are not where a user would normally look, slower since you're locked into the scripts scroll speed rather than jumping around at your own rate and it bloats the code.

[Justin]

DHTML can be neat, but reinventing the scrollbar probably shouldn't be done. Some find it neat, but others find it confusing; I know a lot of people who are confused with computers as it is, and adding many different ways to accomplish a task only makes it worse IMO.

As the saying goes, just because you can doesn't always mean you should :)

[koala]

For those who use NetObjects Fusion, Coolmaps have a component called Magic Window (http://club.coolmaps.com/component_detail.cfm?nfx=83) which does this sorta thing quite neatly.

It calls an existing web page and displays it in a scrollable window.

Simon

[Dunx]

I'm with Justin on this one - just because it's cool, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

For example, I used to get a real thrill doing extreme operator overloading and all sorts of neato things in C++, right up until the point where I had to go back and maintain the code. With web sites, these 'cool' tricks break browsers, screw up accessiblity tools, make your sites difficult to navigate, and just generally get in the way of people using the pages you create.

Personally, I don't particularly like Jakob Nielsen (probably spelt wrongly too) or the way he approaches usability, but for goodness' sake - the web isn't television. Sort your content out.

</rant>

[Dunx]

OK, sorry - that was uncalled for ranting. I'll put my curmudgeonly hat back on the peg now.