Hi,
I'm not sure "zooming" has any specific definition. As you observed, it operates with a image (although it could apply to other elements) to change the size. Here are my thoughts on "zooming":
1. Zoom is an animation effect that operates on the image to change its display size from smaller to larger (or vice versa). Because it's an animation, it requires use of script or active embed (programming) to operate on a webpage.
2. Zoom is a change in the height and width of the image while maintaining the aspect ratio, i.e. no dimensional distortion "stretch" occurs.
3. Zoom is normally an on-page function, whereby the image dimensional change operates as an overlay or layered element. This normally requires use of CSS feature of z-index or position to prevent interference with other page elements.
4. True Zoom operates by stepped replacement of the prior image with a resized image, yielding the growing shrinking animation effect. Example: a timed replacement by 10% increase in dimesions to change from size a to size b is done with .1 second intervals over 1 second period to complete the change.
Yes, I know that sounds very techie, but I write code. Just remember....you asked.
Danno
Oh....and if you bump into a SophieBox ZoomView, that one fits my thinking (it's my code).
