the 5k audi tt vr gallery

The5k is a web competition in which the entries must be less than 5 kilobytes (5,120 bytes) in total file size. To put that in perspective, the front page of actsofvolition.com today is 28 kilobytes of text/HTML and over 41 kilobytes of images. From the5k.org:

PURPOSE
The idea behind the contest is that the rigid constraints of designing for the web are what force us to get truly creative. Between servers and bandwidth, clients and users, HTML and the DOM, browsers and platforms, our conscience and our ego, we're left in a very small space to find highly optimal solutions. Since the space we have to explore is so small, we have to look harder, get more creative; and that's what makes it all interesting. Just celebrating that is all.

Some of last years entries were truly amazing including a store with a working shopping cart, a working 3D Tetris game, a drawing program with save funtion, and a web-safe color chart complete with preview, each less than 5 kilobytes.

I made a humble entry last year which was cruelly and viciously mocked (particularly bothersome since the criticisms were witty and somewhat justified).

My goal this year was to create an entry that would not solicit public ridicule. Together with Nick and Nathan from silverorange, we have created the 5k audi tt vr gallery. Due to obvious file size constraints it only has three frames of rotation. If we had more time, I'm sure we could have squeezed in eight frames and made it more netscape-friendly. However, we only started the day before the deadline (a technique I picked up in my days as an academic).