Hi there, like I said in a recent post I have been doing a lot lately, by implication I have been doing a lot of front end web development mainly focusing on simplistic aesthetics.
Basically, it is not about the use of too many tools or API, it is about a good usage of one or more tools for a job with an appeasing presentation of your final work. One great mistake we make as designers/developers is to use too many tools/plugins whilst working and you know that saying:
“too many cooks spoil the broth”.
However, my intentions is to tell you of some of the coolest plugins I have used lately from my jquery implementations to dojo. these two are turning to be recurring tools in my recent jobs bringing my Apps very close to Desktop Apps or RIA and most importantly web 2.0 compliant.
Jquery:(Mb_tabset,Flexselect,Carousel )
I am really not going to talk about each of these here but I would only advice that you check out
but sure there are whole lots of jquery built plugins, a couple of them with either poor documentation or buggy at runtime.
Dojo:
One really cool thing about dojo is that it is got a declarative way of using its widgets especially the very rich ‘dijit’s components.
Particularly, I like so many things about dojo implementation, it is very neatly implemented with require statements and its in-built firebug Lite utility is something you would find handy when it comes to testing on IE but I hate to hear when people say it is for Java(that over-rated and overly represented language in schools/training centers) developers.
Widgets:
There are a whole lot of cool stuffs within dojo but hey watch it. Some programming approach or styles are only dojo –invented don’t go trying to use the styles in other libraries of your own hand-built scripts because you might just hit a block-wall.
One of the coolest things about my use of these Javascript libraries is that I bother less on cross browser compatibility isues and focus on my views. there are far too many plugins and widgets in these libraries that I have seen and may never implement or use in my works as they would only occur with need. For instance the YUI has got a very cool set of widgets for the job but I just may not get to use it though it is really cool to explore various libraries and use them for various works, this sure creates a variety of flovored themes for your works and when an employer/client also comes calling with specific needs like site make-overs it gives you an edge as most likely one of these libraries might have been used.
Please before you go hanging me about the stereotypes on the use of Javascript on your projects, I’d say how many people do you think still turn-off pop-ups on their browsers today?
Take the stats or google up some polling results across the web and see that you may be living in the stone age of development if you still shy away from the Ajax ways of doing things today.
In conclusion, I gotta say that I really do believe that the “Open source way ” is really a very great way of doing things and filled with great humanitarians (people who do not want you to have problems) who give out freely very rich components just for you but the world may not recognize this bunch of Humanitarians.
Of Import to you may be:
Mozilla Addons:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon
22 Beautiful jquery plugins:
http://www.tutorial9.net/resources/22-beautiful-jquery-plugins-for-web-designers/
Sixteen Cheat Sheets:
http://www.problogdesign.com/resources/16-cheat-sheets-on-16-essential-topics-for-web-designers/
free fonts:
http://csscreme.com/download-free-fonts/by-alpha/A
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