New Year, New User Interfaces
By Al Williams
This new year has brought a slew of new products trying to cash in on the cachet of the millennium. You can only hope that as vendors try to jump on the futuristic bandwagon, they also make some solid forward-looking improvements to their products. One thing that products of the future are likely to have is improved user interfaces.
One of the best things about Java is that it lets you explore new user interfaces on your Web pages. The tight integration between Java and the two biggest Web browsers (Microsoft's and Netscape's) lets you create a variety of user interface controls for Web pages to improve navigation, or otherwise improve the user experience. Look at Microsoft FrontPage's Glow Buttons, for example. These are Java applets that produce a special effect (usually a glowing appearance) when the mouse moves over them.
In this first "Java@Work" of the new year, I'll show you how to build custom navigation controls that you can easily integrate into Web pages -- even pages with frames. Along the way you'll see some interesting mouse tricks and one spot where Microsoft Internet Explorer behaves differently from Netscape Navigator (and from Sun's AppletViewer, hmm...).
Save Space
User interface designers know the value of saving space. Think about how many common interface gadgets get larger when you use them: pull-down menus, drop-down lists, and roll ups all appear in some reduced form until you want to operate them.
