September 15, 2000 - The Difference between Filters and Transitions | WebReference

September 15, 2000 - The Difference between Filters and Transitions

Yehuda Shiran September 15, 2000
The Difference between Filters and Transitions
Tips: September 2000

Yehuda Shiran, Ph.D.
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One of Internet Explorer 5.5's main features is its support for a rich set of filters and transitions. Filters and transitions allow you to create visual effects that are very difficult to create otherwise. They also enhance and extend your arsenal for developing interactive Web pages. The difference between filters and transitions is that filters are static while transitions are dynamic. Filters affect the way content is displayed. They let you modify the original content in many different ways. You see only the final result, after the filter application. Mirroring an image is a simple example for a static filter. What you see on the Web page is the image after it has been mirrored. You can imagine what the original image is, but you don't see it explicitly on the page. The supported filters are Alpha, BasicImage, Blur, Chroma, Compositor, DropShadow, Emboss, Engrave, Glow, Light, MaskFilter, Matrix, MotionBlur, Pixelate, Shadow, and Wave.

Transitions, on the other hand, affect how content changes along a time interval. Content changes between an initial image and a final image. You specify with transitions how you want the image to change from its initial specification to its final specification. The CheckerBoard transition is one of the supported transitions. The starting image is divided into several rectangles, and then each rectangle rolls to the right, revealing the appropriate rectangles in the final image. The transition takes time and supposed to be noticeable. The supported filters are Barn, Blinds, CheckerBoard, Fade, GradientWipe, Inset, Iris, Pixelate, RadialWipe, RandomBars, RandomDissolve, Slide, Spiral, Stretch, Strips, Wheel, and Zigzag.

Learn more about filters in Column 68, Introduction to Filters in IE 5.5 and Up.