jQuery in Action, Third Edition

Chapter 8. Energizing pages with animations and effects

This chapter covers

• Showing and hiding elements without animation
• Showing and hiding elements using core animation effects
• Extending the core easing functions
• Writing custom animations
• Controlling animation and function queuing

In the early days of the web, the capabilities afforded to page authors were severely limited, not only by the minimal APIs but also by the sluggishness of scripting engines and low-powered systems. The idea of using these limited abilities for animation and effects was laughable, and for years the only animation was through the use of animated GIF images (which were generally used poorly, making pages more annoying than usable).

Today’s browser scripting ...