I just launched a website this week for Baltimore County Restaurant week. Someone asked how I created the picture slide-show. More specifically they noticed the slide-show was not Flash. I told them I used JQuery, to which I heard nothing on the other line. The person continued and asked exactly what is JQuery. I explained them the concept of open-source software and code libraries, so her it goes.

As a web designer and developer we are always looking for ways to automate and speed up the design/development process. We want to write code, but not from scratch. You may ask why? well, many people have taken the liberty in the development community to do these redundant tasks for you, so you can concentrate on other things, such as design, accessibility, and compliance. these open-source libraries are a huge time-saver.

So how do they work, you ask? Basically you put code in the header of your document that states the type of code you are using. Here is what it might look like:

You then proceed to use the already coded script for your website. Again, I created a photo slide-show for Baltimore County Restaurant Week The great thing about the open-source libraries is you do not have to write much code if any, unless there is a high level of customization. I actually did not write any additional code for this site!!

These open-source libraries offer many a vast array of code to suite your needs. Here are some of the more popular libraries and what they do.

JQUERY- jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript.

XOAD-XOAD is a PHP based AJAX/XAP object oriented framework that allows you to create richer web applications. Formerly known as NAJAX, XOAD has many benefits: it uses JSON, supports server / client side events, HTML manipulation, Caching and many more. http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoad/

JODO- Javascript tools- Dojo saves you time, delivers powerful performance, and scales with your development process. It’s the toolkit experienced developers turn to for building great web experiences. http://www.dojotoolkit.org/

XAJAX- Using AJAX to PHP Apps with XAJAX. http://xajaxproject.org/

RICO- Offers visual effects, styling, drag and drop and ajax functions. http://openrico.org/

Mochikit-MochiKit is a highly documented and well tested suite of JavaScript libraries that will help you get things done, fast. http://mochikit.com/

DOJO- A Toolkit by the Dojo Foundation featuring DHTML and AJAX functions

http://www.dojotoolkit.org/

CPAINT- CPAINT (Cross-Platform Asynchronous INterface Toolkit) is a multi-language toolkit that helps web developers design and implement AJAX web applications with ease and flexibility. It was originally born out of the author’s frustration and disappointment with other open-source AJAX toolkits. It is built on the same principles of AJAX, utilizing JavaScript and the XMLHTTP object on the client-side and the appropriate scripting language on the server-side to complete the full circle of data passing from client to server and back. http://cpaint.sourceforge.net/

AJAX Javascript Toolkit at SourceForge.net. Fast, secure and free downloads from the largest Open Source applications and software directory. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ajform/

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Tags: Open-Source Libraries, web development, Website design

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 6:05 am and is filed under Design, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.