With the latest version of this site I’ve tried to look at representing blog activity by using the number of comments to “agitate” as it were the pixels in the thumbnail for a blog post.
So if there’s no comments the image just stays still. If there’s a few comments the image starts to dance around a little bit. When there’s a lot of comments (and pingbacks) then the image just goes crazy, as in the case of Cinema Redux if you browse the sketches section.
I’m also bringing in my latest Flickr pictures too on the homepage. The idea is it’s a kind of digital shoebox where I can plug in bits of my content from around the web, not just the blog side. I can also bring in my Vimeo videos if need be, though at present I’ve turned this off.
The only downside with all this though is the CPU usage. Lots of dancing pixels = fan going like mad. I need to look at ways to optimize it so people’s computers don’t fry!
You might also like to check out some of the other experiements I’ve done in past Wordpress themes. There’s the Jared Tarbel creature hack which uses the age of a post to create typographic creatues - older posts move slower than there younger cousins. Then there’s also the info mouse thing which needs you to drag your mouse in order to create typographic impressions of the posts.
Popularity: 50% [?]
I love the effect!
vamapaull / 25/11/2007I like the “creature hack” too
Great work!!