No wonder, then, that such a prestigious conference prides itself on setting up a state-of-the-art information website. Moving the technology almost literally to the background, co-organisers MetaDesign in San Francisco created this subtle and very functional site, which explored the advanced possibilities of dynamic html.

The FUSE98 site is divided into two inter-linked sections, one for the conference information and one for the presentation of online graphic experiments in the FUSElab. Both sections are characterised by the same sparse, elemental design and layout, mainly distinguished by the use of complementary background colours. The conference site provides all the necessary information for those of us who were planning to attend. Basic information on the city of San Francisco, the Nob Hill Masonic Center, transportation and accommodation is presented with the same elegance as the extensive information on speakers and participants. The FUSElab section presents a continuous flow of submitted work by leading or up-and-coming designers, mostly in Shockwave or Flash. Supplemented by some basic information, like title, file size and necessary plug-ins, the work itself is either presented in a newly opened window or within the context of the designer's site.

In both sections, navigational menus form an integrating and structuring element in the layout of the page(s). Doing away with the 'traditional' separate bar of buttons along the top or side of the page - as well as your browser's complete tool and location bars, for that matter - it is an exceptionally strong feature of the design. This basic menu of options is always present as a complete site map, offering more detailed options when touched upon by the mouse. All the available information is added and built around the expanding menus. You'll realise this specifically once you experience the textual information scrolling away underneath the title and navigation elements.

This layering and repositioning of graphic elements and information seems to be the running theme in the FUSE98 site. Each screen is built from composed layers, from the nearly illegible texts that serve as a background grid element to the crossbar of images that runs underneath some of the textual information. It is an almost formal play on the main technique used to create this site, the layers in dhtml.

One of the frequent drawbacks of websites that accompany international conferences is that they freeze after the event. This partly holds true for the FUSE98 site as well. Those who missed out on the event will search the site in vain for conference proceedings. Aside from some press clippings, the site remains as it was. However, the FUSElab has remained open to submissions, keeping the spirit of the event alive a while longer.