Platinum Edition Using XHTML™, XML, and Java™ 2

Animated Buttons Using Layers

When you push a button on an appliance or dashboard, you get visual and tactile feedback from the button that tells you something about its status. If the button is depressed, you know that what it controls is on. Conversely, you know that the function the button controls is off if the button is raised. When you press the button to toggle its state, you feel a click as it moves to its new position. This tells you that you have changed states successfully. Unfortunately, this kind of feedback has been tough to provide for buttons on Web pages. Although you will probably never be able to provide tactile feedback to a user pressing a button, Dynamic HTML enables you to give visual feedback about whether the button is ...