Open Source Options for Graphic Design?

[Eric S. Johansson]

Dave M G wrote:
> 	What they want is relatively simple. On the top page, they want to
> rotate through a few images. Right now, the Flash object that handles
> this task just cycles through the images like a slide show, flashing
> white in between each image.
> 
> 	I'd like to be able to accommodate them with at least some animated
> design element that meets their desires, but I want to be able to do it
> with an open source solution.

I've seen other people recommend Ajax type solutions.  And while it will 
work, be prepared to experience a significant amount of pain and wasted 
time if you try to do anything more that a trivial exercise.

I wish I knew enough to give you a good comparison between flash and 
Ajax but they are both pretty messy.  But here's an interesting set of 
thoughts you might be able to make use of.  These were written by an 
acquaintance of mine.


"""
A sweet approach for this, being pushed by someone in the Zope
ecosystem, Godefroid Chapelle, is as follows:

- send a generic Javascript engine to the browser on first load of the
   app.
- subsequent pages send a stylesheet pointing the engine at specific DOM
   elements, e.g. by id.
- the engine instruments the DOM with event listeners according to the
   stylesheet.
- when these elements are clicked or whatever, it sends the info to
   the server and gets back a response, e.g. a snippet of HTML to replace
   the target element.

This means processing is still done on the server, in your nicely
debuggable programming language of choice. Not suitable for the
in-browser spreadsheet, but just great for submitting a tiny form
at a time instead of rerendering the whole page.

http://bubblenet.be/home/community-work/kukit-azax-details
"""