Mac OSX menu simulated!

[curtisrollo]

Hey friends,

I'm currently working on a navigation system similar to the Mac OSX menu (where icons expand?). I've seen it done on the web in flash, but was never too impressed with the effect, so I programmed my own which I thought is the best I've seen. Please check it out in the beta version at

http://www.curtisyee.com/chineseposters
www.curtisyee.com/chineseposters

The rest of the page is being built, but I want feedback from others to see how my magnifying thumbnails for your approval. Is it intuitive? Is it smooth? Does it remind you of the good times you've spent with your Mac OSX?



sincerely,

curtis

[idolmind]

dude, that's awesome. so smooth . . . it's almost sexy.

1) Is it intuitive? - yes
2) Is it smooth? - yes
3) Does it remind you of the good times you've spent with your Mac OSX?

Well, the magazine that I work for is cheap as s*** and won't put out the cash to upgrade the comps, but if I had OSX I'm sure it would.

My only suggestion is to lower the nav bar so when the pics expand they don't cover up the big photo. But man . . . that's good work.

[skitzofrantic]

it's just like the real deal, can you change the position of the nav bar?

ex. left side screen right side screen top...

9/10

ak

[curtisrollo]

Hey skitzofrantic,

Thanks for the kind review. Yeah, the scroll bar is totally modular and dynamic. Right now it's, XML driven and you can change the positon (you can actually drag around like a movieclip). It's always centered, but you can specify the dimensions and boundaries. To change it's orientation will require a tiny bit of code-changing, but it's really just a bit. But yeah, I'm pretty proud that it's so dynamic. Thanks again.

curtis

[kamyab]

Great job on the menu. Smooth and intuitive indeed.

[N_R_D]

MY GOD.....that is great......how long did it take for that?

Wouldnt want to enlighten us on how this is done would you?

[cpt-anarchy]

the buttons on my site are kinda like that
when you hover over one, it expands, and pushes the others aside.

http://www.aodesign.tk

http://anarchydesign.xriod.com

unlike curtisrollo's site, however, my buttons dont go from really small, to really big [ there is only a slight size expansion]


i can explain how i did it, if anyone wants me to.

[N_R_D]

Please.......

[cpt-anarchy]

Originally posted by N_R_D
Please.......

wut?

[curtisrollo]

hey NRD,

Here's the breakdown of how my scroller works. This is totally done in actionscript with no actual tweening.

1)From an XML file, I generate a list of thumbnails to be loaded, and arrange them in a row
2)for each thumbnail, there is actionscript that detects how close the mouse cursor is to itself, and if it is closer than a certain number of pixels, it will ease/expand dynamically.
3)there is a movieclip on Enterframe that constantly spaces each thumbnail a certain number of pixels apart, after taking into consideration the size of each thumbnail (as they could have expanded).
4) another on enterframe movie clip makes sure the entire scroll bar is always centered on stage.

I guess the hardest part is finding the right math formula. But I'm glad this menu made you so excited.

sincerely,
curtis

[Apocalypse44]

I think he means please explain!

[N_R_D]

Ha starting with the XML part