Introducing Web Animations

Why Web Animations? A summary of happenings until now

On the Web today we have CSS Animation (including Transitions) and SVG Animation and they both have their problems. For example, CSS is so simple it doesn’t even support synchronization and SVG is pretty hairy when it comes to interval negotiation and syncbase timing—and it’s SVG-only. Most of all though, they’re completely separate.

Also, Microsoft don’t support SVG Animation. They have consistently maintained that they want to see a single model for animation on the Web (e.g. minutes) and that that model should have an API. That’s a very reasonable position in my mind, albeit frustrating for authors who want to use SVG Animation now.

The story since then is as follows:

• On several occasions throughout 2011 and 2012 I proposed various alternatives (#1 – presentation, #2, #3) for harmonizing the two such as importing SVG features into CSS and vice versa. People mostly just nodded in agreement and nothing happened.
• In January 2012, Adobe wisely suggested I go away and prepare a concrete proposal so people can get a feel for what is might look like. Adobe also offered to assist where they could.
• At the end of January 2012 I invited a contact from Google to join in since he had some great ideas about state machines.
• In March 2012 folks from Adobe, Google and I (Mozilla) got together in Tokyo and hacked out a first version of the spec.
• In May 2012 we got approval from the CSS and SVG working groups to continue this work as an official work item.
• In September 2012 we presented a demo of the work at the Graphical Web conference in Zurich (video recording).
• In June 2013 we got approval from the CSS and SVG working groups to publish a FPWD.
• Today (25 June 2013) we finally published something!

What’s in the box?

Basically, this:

Web Animations is essentially a common model for animation that underlies CSS and SVG. It covers the common features of both plus a few only found in one or the other.

It also has a few extra features not currently found in either:

Timing groups

This is the primary means of synchronization.

It’s quite powerful but I’ll leave the details and justification for this to a separate post.

Speed control (#1 and #2)

This is a requested feature for SVG2 and may be useful for achieving reversing effects such as exposed in CSS.

Custom effects (API)

This allows the Web Animations timing model to be used to drive animations of HTML canvas etc. by registering a script callback.

Iteration start

This is a minor but much requested feature that allows you to start an animation part-way through its interval.

What’s not included?

Bear in mind that Web Animations is essentially a model. It’s not a declarative syntax. That’s something left to other specs. The API happens to be bundled with the model simply because that makes it easy to keep the two in sync.

The arrangement is as follows:

The CSS-specific features required for CSS animations and transitions will be covered in a separate specification, possibly called “CSS Animations/Transitions level 4” which expresses its features in terms of the Web Animations model.

Likewise, current SVG features such as syncbase timing, or targetting attributes (not just CSS properties) will be covered by a separate specification (my next task) expressed in terms of that model. That specification may be called something like “SVG Animation” but I suspect not since quite a few people have expressed interest in allowing it to apply to HTML content too.

Other features that are not included:

• Bounce/spring timing functions – we really wanted to make this possible and have a couple of simple extensions to timing functions to allow this but we haven’t yet reached agreement about which one is best so we’re leaving them both out for now.
  The plan is to follow up with a separate specification which provides additional timing functions anyway.
• (In fact, with the current working draft, you can’t even do more than one timing function over an animation currently but that will be fixed in the next draft when we introduce chained timing functions).
• Media integration – this is something a lot of people have been asking for but we decided to postpone it in the interests of progressing the spec along.
  The good news is this used to be part of the spec so we know it integrates very cleanly.
  For now we’ll work on it in a separate spec and if that comes along quickly enough we might merge it back in.
• State machines – this is something that is very useful when you start programming UI interactions but something we decided is not critical for the first version of the spec.
  Again, we’ll probably work on this as a separate spec.

API?

Originally I opposed the idea of adding an API because I think declarative solutions are generally preferable. However, the API is useful in a few cases:

• It lets you inspect the state of all animations in the document. Anyone can build developer tools that present you with a timeline of all the running CSS animations/transitions/SVG animations in the document for debugging.
• It lets you make runtime changes to declarative animations—for many apps a combination of declarative and procedural approaches is the best fit and lets you achieve effects that might not be possible using purely declarative features.
• For some problems a procedural approach is suitable and in those cases using the API is both simpler than writing the animation loop yourself and also means the browser can optimise the animation for smoother performance and less battery consumption.

Google Update Underway

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There appears to be an update underway, one that will be rolling out over a “multi-week” timeframe according to Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts.

The update was announced by Matt on Twitter in response to a question about why some of the search results look spammy. Matt replied saying, “Yup we saw that. Multi-week rollout going on now, from next week all the way to the week after July 4th.”

It is unclear exactly what this is an update for. Is it in response to an update on the PayDay algorithm or maybe the softer Panda update? We asked Matt Cutts and Google to clarify but Google won’t clarify.

Google has said that Panda is a multiday update, so maybe this update is related to that. If that is true, we’d probably be at the 27th update to Panda. The last Panda update we counted was Panda 25 but Google stopped announcing them; however, we think there has been at least one Panda refresh since the last confirmed update.

Or, this update Matt is referring to may be designed to improve the situation with the PayDay loans algorithm having some oddities. Such as the example Matt responded to with a search for [car insurance] in Google UK and the Matt Cutts payday loan hack from a week ago. There are many examples of places where the payday loan algorithm did not remove spam, so this update might be related to that.

Have you noticed ranking and traffic changes from Google over the past few days? Let us know in the comments.

By Barry Schwartz

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The World Conference

The World Conference on Stock Assessment Methods for Sustainable Fisheries will take place in Boston, USA from 15-19th July 2013

The conference will provide a forum for presentations on the application and future of stock assessment methods. It will consider single stock approaches for data rich and poor stocks, and also multispecies and ecosystem based approaches. It is being organised by researchers from a range of scientific institutions and RFMO across the world. The conference will be preceded by a 2 day workshop (15-16th July 2013) where studies on the application of stock assessment methods to predefined data sets will be reviewed. Sidney Holt will open the conference. 

For further information and registration, please visit: http://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/symposia/WCSAM-2013/Pages/default.aspx

Google says Internet balloons will benefit small business

NDTV

Google's plans to beam the Internet from giant balloons sent to the stratosphere could boost small businesses in rural parts of Asia by connecting them online, the company said Wednesday.

Karim Temsamani, Google's head of Asia Pacific, said in a speech at the Communicasia conference in Singapore, that the Internet balloons might also facilitate communication during disasters.

Google last week revealed top secret plans to launch thousands of balloons to provide Internet connections to remote parts of the world, allowing the more than four billion people with no access to get online.

Its scientists on Saturday released up to 30 helium-filled test balloons flying 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) above Christchurch in New Zealand, carrying antennae linked to ground base stations.

"What's devastating is that only a tiny fraction of SMEs (small-medium enterprises) all across Asia are online right now," Temsamani told the conference.

He said India, one of the region's emerging economies, has 47 million small businesses, but only one percent are online.

"Getting more businesses online is crucial to every single country in the region," he said.

The experimental balloon project, called Project Loon, is one way to provide affordable Internet access to "rural, remote and under-served" regions, Temsamani said.

"For farmers in remote rural areas, this would bring market information that allows them to get better prices from merchants," he added.

The balloons, which once in the stratosphere will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye, will also help in disasters when communication infrastructure is down, Temsamani said.

"For places with few doctors, this could help relay drug information. In disasters, this could help coordinate supplies," he said.

The balloon network is controlled by ground stations connecting to the local Internet infrastructure and beaming signals to the balloons, which are self-powered by solar panels.

Users below have an Internet antennae they attach the side of their house which can send and receive data signals from the balloons passing overhead.

Some 50 people were chosen to take part in the trial in New Zealand and were able to link to the Internet.

Temsamani cautioned that the project remained in an experimental stage, and would require a lot of work from participating nations.

"These balloons need networks' co-operation to function, we're all going to have to work together on this," he said.

He said Google expects half a billion people in emerging markets worldwide, most of them in Asia, to have Internet access "between now and 2015".

"These people will drive this transformation even faster. They will not have all the desktop-based habits we've developed over the past 10 years," he added.

(Also see: Project Loon: 7 things to know about Google's Internet-beaming balloons)

Microsoft Office comes to iPhone for Office 365 subscribers, Android's wait continues

Microsoft's Office software package is coming to the iPhone for the first time Friday, offering people the ability to read and edit their text documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations at the doctor's office or at a soccer game.

The company isn't making an iPad version, though, nor is it offering the app on Android devices. Microsoft Corp. is treading a fine line as it tries to make its $100-a-year Office subscription more compelling, without removing an advantage that tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows system now have - the ability to run popular Office programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Office Mobile for iPhone is available free through Apple's app store, but an Office 365 subscription is required to use it. That subscription lets you use Office on up to five Mac and Windows computers for the annual fee. A subscription can be more expensive than buying the package outright for just one or two computers, but the iPhone version won't be sold separately for those who resist the recurring fee.

Microsoft has been pushing subscriptions as a way to get customers to keep paying for a product that has historically been sold in a single purchase. The company touts such benefits as the ability to run the package on multiple computers and get updates for free on a regular basis. Microsoft said it wants to give customers yet another reason to embrace subscriptions by offering Office on the iPhone only with a subscription.

Chris Schneider, a marketing manager with Microsoft's Office team, would not comment on any plans for the iPad or Android. Office is available on those devices through a Web browser, but it's not as rich or powerful as having stand-alone software installed directly on the device. The Web app also requires an Internet connection, something not always available with many tablets.

The regular version of Office works on Windows 8 tablets, and most of the features are available on a version designed for tablets running a lightweight version of Windows called RT. Customers needing to use Office on a larger screen than a phone might be drawn to the Windows tablets, which have lagged behind in sales and cachet compared with Apple's iPad and various devices running Google's Android system.

The iPhone app will come with Word, Excel and PowerPoint and will sync with Microsoft's SkyDrive online storage service. Microsoft said people will be able to pick up a Word document exactly where they left off on another computer tied to the same account, while comments they add to a Word or Excel file will appear when they open it up on another machine

.

Although documents will be reformatted to fit the phone's screen, the company said the iPhone app will preserve charts, animation, comments and other key properties. That's not always the case with programs offered by Google and other companies to work with Office files on mobile devices.

But Microsoft said the app won't offer the same range of features available on regular computers.

It's meant for lightweight editing, not complex calculations or heavy graphical work, Schneider said. 

Someone about to give a speech can review a PowerPoint presentation and fix a typo, for instance. Someone getting a Word or Excel document as an email attachment can add comments or make changes, then send it back, either as an email attachment or through a sharing feature on SkyDrive.

Rather than have it do everything, Schneider said, "we designed the Office Mobile for iPhone to meet the scenarios that make the most sense."

The iPhone app also won't have Outlook for email, Publisher for desktop publishing and Access for databases. Microsoft's OneNote software for note-taking has been available for free separately for iPhones and iPads.

People with Office 365 subscriptions will be able to run the new app on up to five iPhones, in addition to the five Mac or Windows computers. People in the United States will be able to get it from Apple's app store Friday. Availability in other countries will follow in the coming days.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., already makes a version for phones running its Windows Phone 8 operating system. An Office 365 subscription isn't required for that, and those apps do not count toward the five mobile devices permitted for each subscription.

Google launches Cloud Print app for Android

Google has launched the official Android application for its Google Cloud Print service.

The application can be downloaded from Google Play store. While the cloud printing service has been here for a few years, it took Google surely long to bring an official application for the same on its own platform.
The service was up till now supported by third party applications on the platform. Though the official app has landed on Android, it still is not available on other platforms such as iOS and Windows Phone. iOS users will still have to use third party solutions such as Print Central Pro while users with Windows Phone devices will have to utilise the web version on their Internet browsers.

The Google Cloud Print service connects your printers to the web. Hence, you get access to a printer connected to the service remotely. Also, just like you share a document on Google Docs, you can share a printer using Google Cloud Print. Google had earlier integrated the service on its Chrome web browser giving users the option to send a print command to Google Cloud Print directly.

The service connects to both 'Google Cloud Print ready' printers or a normal printer you might have at home. Printer manufacturers such as HP and Kodak are coming out with Google Cloud Print ready machines. In order to use a normal printer, it needs to be connected to a computer that is connected to the Internet.

A quick demonstration video on the Google website shows how the service can be used to send a print command to a printer in your office while you are on your way as well as to a sibling in another continent. With the application now available on Android, it might surely be easier for users to send print commands to the cloud.