When I’m using components like PageFlow or Motion Forge, I notice mention of both JavaScript and something called GSAP. My question is, since I’m a host being hosted on a provider that only allows for static websites, does that limit me to JavaScript only? Or does this GSAP technology work with static websites?
Basically, I’m trying to find some kind of component that’s going to allow for me to do motion control with scrolling, but it needs to be able to render on a host that doesn’t allow for database access. So any help would be great.
So nobody has answered this question in three days, which, as far as my experience has been so far, is very unusual. Is there just literally nobody who has an answer to this? Even the developers of these products? Or @dan himself?
I would really like to understand how this works before I make a purchase, for obvious reasons, so if anybody can help with this, that would be great!
And I guess as a related question, does anything that happens to use CMS objects necessarily have to use some kind of database element when published? Or is that only acting as a database while it’s in Elements, and then export as a flattened website?
Again, this would determine whether some of the functionality of Elements is something I can actually use or not. In fact, it’s the same question for a different kind of situation.
Hi @GlenAllan
your question is very specific on PageFlow and Motion Forge so you best trigger the developer of the components that he is aware that there is a question for him. I guess only he will be able to answer it.
@Invisigoth here is something I guess it’s for you.
I guess that’s the problem with the topic I used, because technically what I’m asking is about any kind of scroll-based component for Elements and how they actually save the data that’s associated with it.
When I’m hearing of things that I don’t recognize, I just need to be able to understand whether or not it’s going to create the kind of site that flattens into something that can be hosted on a server that doesn’t allow for dynamic content.
Is it possible to edit our titles? I guess I can see if that’s a thing .
I think I’ll just try to close this particular thread out by clicking solution for what you said and this comment saying I’m going to make a new topic instead, so that people aren’t inclined to come here and answer for no reason. I’ll start a new topic with less specific component questions in it.
I think what I figured out through research is that, for the most part, these components will work fine with a static website.
I’m still not clear on whether that’s the case with CMS components, as in whether or not they work with some internal database while inside of Elements, but still publish a flattened static website, or if there’s some dynamic elements using PHP or whatever that are required on publish. But that’s not something I’m concerned with right now, so I think I’m okay.
And if I have a specific question about a particular component, I’ll try to figure out how to figure out what developer it is to tag in the forum.
The CMS is not a database. It is a way of referencing Markdown files that contain the data. But in terms of storage, it’s what you’d call static, not dynamic. A CMS-based Elements Web site will be running PHP, which is a scripting language, instead of Javascript and its associates. Even static sites these days are layers of things, otherwise we’d still be just basically typing the original HTML statements and having ugly Web sites still.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delayed response. Unfortunately, this summer period, combined with daily work and the recent release of a new incredible component, has eaten up all my time.
To answer your question: all the components I have developed are completely free from any database dependencies, specific server configurations, or requirements for particular hosting services. The library I use for animations is GSAP, an industry standard for web animations (which is already included in our beloved Elements).
Furthermore, it is important to clarify that Motion Forge is not just a single tool, but a comprehensive suite of components designed to make working with animations incredibly easy. Currently, seven different components are included within this single package. Following the release of the one I am currently working on, I am about to integrate another one, which will make this suite of components even more useful and spectacular.
With Motion Forge, you can truly animate any element, whether it is currently present in Elements or any future elements that are added. This flexibility allows you to bring any part of your site to life in ways you never thought possible.
Therefore, you can proceed with the purchase without any issues. GSAP is arguably the most powerful client-side (browser-based) animation library available on the web today, as opposed to server-side solutions. It works perfectly on static websites and requires no database access or server-side languages like PHP to function once your site is published.
The host I’m using straight up doesn’t allow for things like PHP, Ruby, or Python, which, you know, equals server-side, executable, live backend activities.
So, while I appreciate the answer, I find it slightly confusing. I’m familiar with websites that are built entirely running PHP. I managed WordPress websites previously for around ten years, And that’s just a given there, along with things like Python. But in this case, it sounds like what you’re saying is that Elements is using PHP as the controlling technology for accessing the different things that are stored in these CMS-based objects.
I don’t know though. It sounds like you’re saying two things simultaneously. If you can clear that up, that would be awesome, because then I would at least know for sure one way or the other regarding how things like a blog might end up working versus having to simply manually add and link pages and develop some kind of system myself to manage it.
Okay, well that’s all great to hear. Let me describe to you what it is I’m trying to accomplish, and since you’ve been tagged and your attention is here, maybe you can tell me which of the different tools you have available, as in Components, would be what it was I was looking for.
I’ve looked through all of yours (and others) and I have realized that MotionForge is the most complete animation engine that you have available. Now, when it comes to the kind of experience I’m trying to create for this page on my website, out of all of the demos you have, the one that feels closest to it when it comes to scroll behavior is PageFlow, where the action is simply, by scrolling, it completes an entire action. It moves from one state to another state completely. The other aspect of this that I have in mind that I want to accomplish is that as a part of the object animation, I want to either have or approximate a kind of parallax movement of a vector background that is sliding behind the text as it moves from one state to another, with both stopping and then both animating out with a similar animation as they animated in with. Obviously, by vector, I would mean SVG. So that you have the same scroll behavior as PageFlow seems to offer, but it integrates a kind of parallaxing of another graphical element behind the text as it’s floating in.
The reason for this is the actual graphical design in that SVG will conceptually (icons/symbolically) relate to what the text is saying. So with that, I’m trying to look through all of these and see which one of these things is capable of accomplishing this combination of ideas with the kind of behavior I’m looking for.
It is great to hear that the technologies you’re using will still work fine with a static website, which is exactly what I was hoping. I just wasn’t initially familiar with the GSAP technology. I did actually learn about it through some research.
So, anyway, if you are able to point me towards which of your components would be most suited to this combination of animation attributes and scroll behavior, that would be awesome, as I do plan on getting whatever is able to accomplish this function to as close to what I’m imagining as possible.
Thank you for any help!
[Edit: I can also ask this in a different thread if that’s what makes more sense]
Just to jump in on one point here, if your current web hosting provider doesn’t support PHP, you won’t be able to use the CMS on their hosting. PHP is a requirement for the CMS to work.
Static and dynamic don’t have any standardized definitions that I’m aware of. Moreover, virtually all sites now use CSS and Javascript (and now Tailwind) for something, which become essentially server-side executable.
If your server doesn’t allow PHP, then you’re going to find a lot of function in Elements and the Components available on the store are unavailable, including the CMS. Moreover, if you deploy the online editor for the CMS, then you really do have a dynamic site that someone externally might find a way to hack.
I’m not sure how you’d do a blog these days without some executable happening somewhere. I still have a site where I enter “blog” entries manually by creating pages manually, but this is a pain to do, and doesn’t tend to work at all for a very active blog. And if a blog isn’t very active, then it’s not really much of a blog.
It sounds as if you want a modern Web site without using modern technologies. I don’t know how you do that, actually.
Technically speaking, where I’m hosting the site is on GitHub Pages. It has no issue with things like CSS and JavaScript. It’s just not going to do things like Java or PHP. Every component that I’ve added so far has worked perfectly fine because they all produce a static website that functions fully. So it’s no big deal. As long as the browser can take the initial code and create the conditions it needs to, it will render properly. It just doesn’t update anything after that. It doesn’t pull code from the server to update the content on the existing page.
As for a blog itself, I don’t know necessarily that I would end up using the same site to do that for anyway. I can just use a kind of site that is more built for that functionality if I need to. Or I could simply parse through all of my stuff that I really wanted to publish and treat it instead of as a blog, more like sections or articles. Honestly, for the site that I’m developing, I think a blog is kind of irrelevant for it, so I don’t think I’m going to need to use the CMS function on this site at all.
Anyway, back on to discovering whether or not the specific components I am looking to use are going to do what it is that I need them to do.
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