Throwback Thursday: come to marvel at the use of paper.js, stay for the psychedelic hilarity.
Here's one of our favourite examples of JavaScript in the form of a demo that took the web by storm in 2012. Staggering Beauty is simple, fun, and weirdly addictive.
Wiggle your mouse and the worm starts moving
Created by New York developer George Michael Brower, with audio by Jon Baken, the demo is spreading around the world like wildfire.
At first glance, it just seems to be an animated worm that wiggles in response to your mouse movements.
Next you're urged to shake vigorously (with a warning for epileptics)
However, start vibrating your mouse at speed and all hell breaks loose.
Quite rightly, Brower has posted a warning at the bottom: "Those at risk of epileptic seizures should choose a different website."
Suddenly we're in crazy town as all manner of psychedelic hell breaks loose
The demo was created using traer.js, a particle-based physics engine for JavaScript ported from Jeff Traer's Processing library, and paper.js, an open source vector graphics scripting framework that runs on top of the HTML5 Canvas. It does not use the WebGL library.
Staggeringbeauty.com is best viewed in Google Chrome. If it doesn't work properly in your browser, you can see what all the fuss is about in this video (with added 'comedic' commentary at the start):
Have you seen any great JavaScript experiments lately? Let us know in the comments!
