Wadda is a lightweight JavaScript library that uses HTML5 canvas for zooming images.

It comes in 2 JS files, one for the common functions an the other for the wadda function.

The library simply displays the original-sized-image inside a "lens effect" that must be mentioned in the thumbnail's title tag.

Wadda has several options for customization like the zoom level, lens size, enable/disable lens fade effect and the x/y offsets from the mouse cursor.

It is compatible with every canvas-enabled browser and will work on others using the explorercanvas library.

Animated GIFs can have up to 256 colors & they are not interactive.

jAni is a lightweight jQuery plugin for animating background images which can be an alternative to animated GIFs (in some cases).

It simply changes the position of a long background image in given distances & speed.

The plugin has few options for controlling it:

• start, stop, pause
• speed
• loop on/off
• dimensions of the frames

As it will require JavaScript to be enabled, using jAni combined with other JavaScript events (like animating a better-quality Ajax loader) would be very functional.

AEXT.NET, a blog focused on web design & development, is presenting a very detailed tutorial on creating bubbles effect (like Apple Dock) with CSS.

The tutorial includes two methods: CSS sprites (basic) & the image swapping (advanced) which will be generating the same visual output.

The effect is very functional specially for list items where items are small in size & the user may have difficulty in pressing the desired one.

It is accomplished with pure CSS (can be improved further with JavaScript for a smoother effect) & compatible with all major browsers.

jQSlickWrap is a jQuery plugin for wrapping content around images.

It uses the HTML 5 canvas tag very smartly by analyzing the original image, the CSS properties for it & re-drawing the image.

The usage is as simple as calling a function like: $('.classToBeWrapped').slickWrap();.

The plugin also offers several option for customization like setting the resolution or background color of the image to be created.

jQuery has built-in animations & effects. But when it comes to switching between 2 objects, you may need to code a little more for a flawless display.

ImageSwitch is an easy to use jQuery plugin for switching between images using effects.

The plugin supports various effects like fade in/out, fly in/out, flip in/out, scroll in/out, single door & double door.

And, the code of the plugin is well-commented which makes it easier to improve it.

Tip: Besides the Groject.ImageSwitch.js, check this .js file too to better findout how the plugin works.

Parallax effects give a feel of depth & increase the visuality so much.

mParallax is a MooTools implementation of the popular jQuery plugin: jParallax (see WRD post).

It eases creating parallax effects with offering various customization options.

There are nice examples presented like this & this.

Sexy Curls jQuery plugin is an open source solution for creating a page curl feature with ease.

It uses the jQuery UI & its resizable package.

It provides settings to customize the look & usage:

• side: for defining which direction the curl effect will occur
• turnImage: image used to create the effect
• max. height, starting height & starting width

The smoothness of the curl effect is very impressive.

There is also another jQuery plugin named Page Peel which also accomplishes a similar result, but uses a Flash file.

$fx() is a JavaScript animation library which is only 3.7kb.

Within a timeline, any CSS property can be altered. And also:

• you can combine effects
• group them to the chains and run parallel
• set different callbacks what gives you even more flexibility.

$fx() is definitely not an alternative to other well-known JavaScript frameworks. On the other hand it does its job (animation) good & if that’s what you need, then it saves you from loading bigger sizes of JS files.

Have a look at the examples.

Pixastic is an open source JavaScript image processing library.

It uses HTML5 Canvas element that enables accessing to raw pixel data.

Supported effects are:

• desaturation/greyscale
• invert
• flipping
• brightness/contrast adjustment
• hue/saturation
• emboss
• blur & more

There is an image editor built with it & the library is well-documented.

DD_roundies is another rounded corners solution that is very easy to implement & cross-browser compliant.

This rounded corners script doesn’t use any images, works in IE6 without AlphaImageLoader & lightweight (3.62kb compressed).

Radius of the corners are not fixed & can be defined.

As the major problem for rounded corners lies beneath IE, this rounded corners script uses VML (inspired from Jonathan Snook’s solution). A possible future problem is IE8 -currently- does not support VML.