TransM Library

TransM.js is a transition library based on JavaScript. The library will assist developers into loading images with a good variety of transitions. Although this feature is solely cosmetic, it can provide a good improvement in the JavaScript or Ajax based application.

According to the library's website, the library comes with 113 forms of transitions and 32 forms of tweenings. The demo version even suggests an "alphamask" although the transition of the alphamask is not visible in most images. By loading this library, the application will not have a tool that provides an easy streaming of images.

Features

Variation on Tweenings and Transitions – obviously, the main reason for developers who wanted this library is the transitions and tweenings. Although it's still limited because they are already set, these are commonly used transitions and tweening. This means they can be immediately used when the right tweening and transition is selected.

Customization of Transitions - aside from image customization, developers can also change the behavior of the library. The library comes with easy to understand and configure functions. Developers simply have to change the numbers, colors or any variable they want to change during the transition.

Ease of Implementation - although there is coding required in using this type of library, only the initial set-up can be a challenge. After downloading the library, developers have to point to the source to properly load the functions. After citing the source, they can simply put transm.add (element,(options)); so that the JavaScript engine will look and interpret the source.

Challenges in Using TransM Library

TransM, like most of the Ajax and JavaScript based library, has some limitations developers have to be aware of. While these limitations are based on certain settings, they should be remembered because they can easily affect any user when they are not taking into consideration.

Heavy Library - this is a bit expected because it's basically an image-centric library. However, the size of the library (more than 2MB) could really take its toll not only on the client side but also on the server. Since the server will load the functions only once, it could have some problem when it is actually loaded in the client side.

The sample on the webpage shows basic SVG images but there could be some problems when used with PNG. The library is not that buggy at all but the loading time can be challenging.

Unique and Puzzling Declarations - while declarations can help developers customize the application, there's just too much declaration to deal with. For example, the setAttribute alone could have a variety of options that some might not be used at all.

Another example is the newArray which has too many variables. Customization is good but too much customization on a simple library can be a bad thing. But this problem is just for developers who don’t want to deal with a lot of variables.

TransM library is just on its initial, stable release. At version 1.0 there more things are probably coming from the author to improve the functions of the library.