The days of using tables for layout are hopefully gone. This doesn’t mean that tables don’t have a place in web design and development. When you have tabular data, tables are the way to go and are what you should be using. However, ordinary tables can be limiting to the user when you have complex data to display. Here are 12 very useful jQuery plugins that will add valuable functionality to your tables such as column sorting, fixed headers, pagination, and more
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Web dev
JavaScript, jQuery, Plugins, Useful
Every web designer tries to be creative when it comes to designing the main navigation of the website. Now we present you with 13 awesome Javascript CSS menus that will be very handy and easy to modify to suit your needs. Lets take a look at recent examples of these …
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Web dev
css, JavaScript, Menu
As the Web grows and becomes more dynamic, more and more websites have user-generated content and tools that greatly improve the user experience in terms of usability and accessibility.
Interactive solutions for lightboxes, form validation, navigation, upload, auto-complete, image cropping, slideshows, tool tips, sliders and tables are being developed that use nifty JavaScript and AJAX scripts.
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Web dev
AJAX, JavaScript, Techniques, Useful
In order to be presented effectively, information needs structure. The more intuitive data structure is designed, the better users can understand the content. Consequently, the data can be scanned and extracted in a more meaningful and systematic way.
Table is a perfect example of a well-structured data presentation, which is easy to analyze and easy to handle. Used for its original purpose – to present data, not to style it -, it can convey ideas effectively. And this is what most of us are actually trying to achieve in the Web.
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Web dev
AJAX, Data Grids, DHTML, JavaScript
Popular JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, MooTools, Prototype, Dojo and YUI can be great for accomplishing common JavaScript tasks. These libraries provide many functions, whether the matter is related to events or effects or AJAX. And if one of these libraries can’t do the job, a plug-in probably exists that can.
Such flexibility is great but sometimes comes with a penalty (the size of JavaScript files being one of them). Although adopting a well-known JavaScript library is usually a wise decision, you may want to perform a task that can be accomplished by a more lightweight library dedicated exclusively to that task or that is not supported by the more popular JavaScript libraries.
Below, we present 40 stand-alone JavaScript libraries that serve specific purposes. These are not all the ones out there, but every Web designer or developer will find something helpful here.
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Web dev
facebook, FBML, JavaScript, Libraries, Useful
Social networking websites play a big part in most peoples lives these days. They play an even bigger part in the lives of web designers/developers. So these websites are a good place to get inspiration.
As an amateur developer this may become a problem, if you see a site like Facebook with a nieve view of javascript it would be very hard to mimic the effects going on there. Some of them are really quite amazing. However with the fairly recent surge in popularity of javascript libraries it has become very easy for us to pull of brilliant effects.
So here’s a short list of a few tutorials on how to mimic the effects seen on social networking websites using libraries such as jQuery, Mootools and Prototype.
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Web dev
FBML, JavaScript, Social Networking, Tutorials
By Glen Stansberry and Smashing Editorial Team
Developers and designers are using more and more JavaScript in modern designs. Sometimes this can be a hindrance to the user and take away from the simplicity of the design, and other times it can add greatly to the user's experience. The key is a) adding the right amount of JavaScript, and b) using the right JavaScript techniques. We have already collected various JavaScript techniques in the past – now it's time for a new portion of JavaScript.
Thanks to the Web's widespread adoption of JavaScript, JavaScript libraries have sprung up to help make design and development easier. Here are a few of the major JavaScript libraries that developers use: jQuery, Prototype, Scriptaculous, mootools, Dojo. These frameworks have thriving communities whose members have developed countless plug-ins that can greatly add to the JavaScript framework.
However, sometimes we need JavaScript solutions that are a little more involved or specific. Here are 75 more handy JavaScript techniques that have made websites much sleeker and more interesting.
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Web dev
JavaScript, Techniques, Useful
Web users love informative clues. Whatever questions and misunderstandings might occur – delivering precise answers immediately is the primary task a responsive user interface should be able to cope with. To do that, developers have to consider subtle and well-thought tooltips – used correctly, they can greatly improve user experience and help users to get things done. In Web such “responsive” hints can be provided by tooltips. E.g., unclear input fields in web forms are perfect examples of a situation you might be willing to use a tooltip for.
For more on AJAX see:
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Web dev
AJAX, css, JavaScript, Scripts, Tooltips
When it comes to design of modern web-applications, Ajax is considered as a standard approach. Interactive solutions for lightboxes, form validation, navigation, search, tooltips and tables are developed using Ajax libraries and nifty Ajax scripts. Ajax is useful and powerful. However, when using Ajax, one should keep in mind its drawbacks in terms of usability and accessibility. With an extensive use of Ajax, you can easily confuse your visitors offering too much control and too many features.
Nevertheless, it's important to know what's possible, particularly since you can develop new ideas further, improving the quality of your web applications. Since our last article 80+ AJAX-Solutions For Professional Coding many things have changed — new scripts were introduced, new creative solutions were developed, new robust development kits have been released. They all are supposed to serve a better user experience and provide more comfort for web-developers.
For more on AJAX see:
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Web dev
AJAX, Coding, JavaScript, Professional, Solutions
If you're looking for a way to display your images on a website but don't have the time to create a custom solution, there's plenty of free and easy-to-use scripts available at your disposal.
Here, I've compiled 16 free image galleries and slideshows for you to take a look at. Though the effects are smooth and their features are robust, none of them use Flash, only JavaScript, and they require very little coding on your part.
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Web dev
Displaying, Images, JavaScript
