January 2008
jQuery makes Ajax so easy a monkey could do it
I’ve been a big fan of jQuery, ever since I descovered it about 6 months ago. I’ve had loads of fun plugging in all the neat scripts and pluggins
I’ve found on sites like Ajaxrain.com. But the thing that’s most impressed me lately is how easy it makes programming Ajax driven features on website! Ajax is one of those things that isn’t actually all that complicated in itself, you simply use Ajax to make a call to a script on your server most likely written in PHP, then handle the response back from the script. The thing I like about jQuery is that it makes it all so neat and tidy. You don’t have to worry about any of the technicalities of the code, you just tell it where you script is, how you want to send the information (GET or POST) and the data you want to send. jQuery then handles the tricky bits for you. All you have to think about now is how you parse the data returned by your script.
Here’s a basic example taken off the jQuery site.
<code>
$.ajax({
type: “POST”,
url: “some.php”,
data: “name=John&location=Boston”,
success: function(msg){
alert( “Data Saved: ” + msg );
}
});
</code>
Taken from http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax
So there you have it! Easy peasy. There really aren’t a lot of excuses any more for not building intuitive, responsive user interfaces into
all your web applications.
Leaving the wonders of jQuery to one side for a moment, I thought I’d add a quick personal note as this is probably my last post on the existem blog… I’ve had a great time and it’s been a very insightful and fun 3 and a half years! But the time has come to spread my wings and move onto pastures new, as they say. So thanks to all the lovely people I’ve met and worked with over the past few years, don’t worry I’m not going far… You can find me over at 18aproductions.co.uk :)
Tally ho!
Tom
BBC in Beta
If you haven’t seen it yet, the BBC has been working hard bringing their vast online empire up to web2.0 speed. Although currently in BETA, the new version has all the bells and whistles you’d expect from any big corporation in the post Facebook/Google online world. It’s fully customisable in layout and content, and you can even drag the little windows around the screen and place them exactly where you want.
The debate has been raging on the Sitepoint forums with opinions on the new layout and design surprisingly varied. Some think the new layout is ugly and the Beep are moving from pioneer to follower, jumping on the Web2.0 bandwagon and not really adding anything new, original or particularly useful to the new design. Others think it’s a vast improvement, bringing the Beep bang up to date and reviving their brand in a world where they are an aweful lot of competition.
The Highs
There are definately a lot of plus points about the new layout in my opinion.
1. The design is contemporary and fresh.
2. There are plenty of widgets and options to play with.
3. The analog clock is iconic and original.
4. It’s centre aligned, which is much nicer in my opinion than the left aligned current version.
The Lows
1. They haven’t really innovated. There are lots of new features, but none that can’t be found on any other web2.0 website. Nothing that makes you go WOW that’s clever.
Conclusion
I think it’s a very good attempt at creating a modern and contemporary website. Hat’s off to the Beep, they may not be original, but what they’ve done looks great to me.
Avairy - one for the birds
No thats not a sexist remark, its a new, free piece (or should that be pieces?) of software that appears to have been around for a while now (so i guess its not that new thinking about it)
Anyway, from what i have seen unfolding on their blog it looks to be a seriously useful piece of kit. I haven’t had a chance to preview it for myself as yet but i have just applied for a beta test account and hopefully i will know more soon.
They are developing a huge series products such as photoshop & illustrator style products, a 3D modeller, word processer, font editor, video editor and lots more all under one roof. Have a look at all the offerings on their tools page.
It looks really promising and I hope they deliver something as good as its promising to be. Watch this space for updates when I get my beta test account activated.
