It's a funny thing how mobile computing, meaning chiefly smart phones, has led the way in animated user interfaces. The restricted space in which the mobile developer must build an interface between an app and the user has meant that animation has developed an essential role in providing the user with cues as to how to engage with apps that might show three or four buttons, where a desktop program would have a dozen or more.
Arguably, desktop computing has not really kept up with the mobile, and even the HTML 5-based browser experience. In many, if not most, apps, there is little in terms of animation beyond the drawing of a focus ring, highlighted-on-click buttons, and a few other system-provided flourishes.
Although things are changing slowly, there is still a massive amount of untapped potential when it comes to animating the UI in subtle but engaging ways. It is this that we will address in this chapter.