Links are an essential element in interfaces

A GUI that doesn't embrace linking can never be truly rich. [Jon Udell]

Danny Ayers has worked up a CSS version (linked from a comment on Sam Ruby's weblog) of a flash fisheye menu demo which Jon pointed to in the above linked posting. In fact the Flash version does more than CSS, since as I understand it, a list of any length will display in the same space, and the fisheye effect makes the items viewable. Notice that the impact of the fisheye effect in the flash version extends to both ends of the list asymetrically, shrinking items far away from the cursor as it enlarges those close to; the CSS version just enlarges the area under the mouse.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the CSS provides a pretty effect, whereas the Flash version provides a genuinely different (though I'm not yet sure if it's useful) way to deal with long lists in short spaces.

Update (22/10/2003): I managed to store Danny Ayers' trackback address as a keyword rather than sending him a ping. It also occurs to me that to say that the CSS is just a pretty effect is too harsh; it does allow the list items to be shrunk considerably. I still think the Flash version is "better" in terms of the visual effect. It is, of course, "worse" because it is in Flash.

Update (22/10/2003): Jon Udell picked up on my comments without the need for trackback.