You will find below a few examples
of the actual output produced by Alventis Button Workshop. This is, of
course, in addition to the top and left navigation bars on this Web site,
which offer great examples of Button Workshop's immense power and flexibility.
All buttons are of the "active" or "live" variety:
passing the mouse over the button highlights it, and pressing on the button
makes it look suitably depressed in one way or another (until you release
the mouse).
Please note that these visual effects rely on JavaScript,
so you must enable it in your browser to see live buttons properly. Note
also that if your browser is Firefox, you may need to allow scripts to
change images under advanced Web Features settings.
If you would like to
examine these examples closer in your own copy of Button Workshop,
you can download the projects that were used to produce the corresponding
examples. The download links are found next to each example. Projects
have been zipped for faster downloading, so you will need to unzip them
into the folder of your choice on your hard drive.
Single
Horizontal Line Toolbar
This
very simple example shows a row of buttons with little glyphs (pictures)
and captions with shadows. Notice that button corners are transparent,
letting the global background brushed metal show through. The buttons
are "active": pass the mouse over
a button, then slowly click it to see the effect
This
example places buttons on two rows (up to 3 rows are supported). The
buttons themselves are semi-transparent, letting the global background
show through. Glyphs can extend beyond the boundaries of the buttons,
and they too can be semi-transparent as can be seen in the "Download" arrow
icon. The buttons are, of course, active, so you can interact with
them.
This example is
quite similar to the preceding one, except that it shows the same buttons
with a vertical layout, suitable for Web site's left or right navigation
menus. The buttons use the same shape as before, but they have been
made slightly less translucent.
Button Workshop can handle
buttons of any shape you like: you are not limited to a pre-defined
set of shapes! Here, an image that shows a battery of metallic cylinders
has been used as a custom button shape.
Custom button shapes have no
limits or restrictions! You can mix buttons of varying shapes and sizes
within a single project. Aside from the predefined horizontal and vertical
layouts seen above, you can also position individual buttons whichever
way you like. Here, the round middle button was placed floating between
and above the semi-circular ones. In this example, the middle button
is of the "Downable" type:
once clicked, it changes into a "downed" state (it toggles
between "Play" and "Stop" states in this example,
but you have full control of every button's appearance in all 8 states).
You may also notice that the metallic-looking buttons are semi-transparent,
revealing a little bit of the horizontally-brushed-metal texture behind
them. In general, Button Workshop lets you make all button elements
as opaque or transparent as you like.
This unusual example
was created from a photo of a Power button. Just as the real thing,
this button can be pressed and released, toggling it between up/down
(or off/on) states. This example is also a clear demonstration of the
6 states that an enabled downable button can have: Normal, Mouseover,
Clicked, Downed Normal, Downed Mouseover, Downed Clicked. The two other
states supported by Button Workshop are Disabled (in the "up" position)
and Downed Disabled.
This simple project shows a row of shiny glassy buttons
that look very much like those found on the taskbar of Windows Vista.
The buttons are downable: click to toggle them between normal and downed
states.
You will find below a list of assorted Internet resources
you may find useful. We loosely grouped them in two broad categories:
Web sites that mainly contain button shapes, and sites that offer an
assortment of free textures to spice up your designs. You may find some
button shapes, textures or moldings that you could download and use in
your Button Workshop projects, or you may merely find inspiration. You
can of course find many more similar resources by performing a Web search.
Please note that Alventis Corporation is not affiliated
with any of these sites, and cannot offer you any guarantees or recommendations
with regards to their contents.
All links will open in new browser window or tab for your
convenience.
