RickyH - CSS3 Pullout Menu

This demo is for a folding pull-out menu that uses CSS3 elements and JavaScript only. It uses no images or flash to produce the effect although they could be used to enhance the natural feel.

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The Idea

I’ve seen this effect used before but most recently in a tech demo for Microsoft’s “Courier”. Below is a snippet of how this menu system works:

My Idea was to build this using DHTML only. No Flash, Canvas or SVG but pure HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

The Basis

The Pullout menu comprises of five HTML elements a,b,c,d and a handle. Elements a,b,c,d are positioned and then skewed to give the effect of a folding object.

When the handle is pulled outwards the width of the elements is stretched and the skew becomes less. This and some colouring effects in JavaScript give the effect of a fold.

Final Effects

I added a simple “on complete” event that detects when the menu is fully opened. The event can be used to trigger any JavaScript you like. I also tinkered with a revert animation that was triggered if the menu was released without being fully open, although this was cool it made it impossible to view the code frame-by-frame in firebug.

Folding Improvements

The animation I used doesn’t seem natural to me, this was down to my lack of understanding in perspective drawings and transitions. Im sure someone with a better understanding could make a much better example from this concept. Maybe if images, gradients and shadows were introduced the effect would start to feel more natural.

Finally

If anyone does improve the menu could you let me know. I’d be really interested to see it.