Interactivity can transform a dull static website into a dynamic tool that not only delights users but conveys information more effectively. In this post, we’ll walk through five different coding techniques that can be easily implemented on any website to provide a richer user experience. These techniques will allow you to better display difficult content, help users find information more effectively and provide meaningful UI cues without overwhelming the user: on-page text search, drag controls for oversized content, subtle hover effects, comment count bars and a full-page slider.
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In the previous part of this tutorial we’ve discussed how to create an animated sliding menu with Javascript using the jQuery framework. In this tutorial, we’ll continue to develop our application by enhancing the sliding effect in various ways and make it even more customizable.
When we finish with this article, we should have a full-fledged animated Javascript menu that will enable you to display your menus in a great number of creative ways. So let’s continue right where we left off!
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One of the great advantages of creating interactive websites is being able to dynamically hide and reveal parts of your content. Not only does it make for a more interesting user experience, but it allows you to stuff more onto a single page than would otherwise be possible, but in a very elegant, non-obtrusive way, and without overwhelming the user with too much information at once.
In this tutorial, we’ll create a sliding menu using the jQuery framework. You will find the downloadable source files at the end of the tutorial if you wish to use them on your website. But the main goal of this article is to show you some basic techniques for creating these kinds of effects and to provide you with the tools you need to realize your own creative ideas. This tutorial is aimed at beginner jQuery developers and those just getting into client-side scripting. You’ll learn how to progressively build this simple effect from scratch.
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jQuery plug-ins provide an excellent way to save time and streamline development, allowing programmers to avoid having to build every component from scratch. But plug-ins are also a wild card that introduce an element of uncertainty into any code base. A good plug-in saves countless development hours; a bad plug-in leads to bug fixes that take longer than actually building the component from scratch.
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The explosion of JavaScript libraries and frameworks such as jQuery onto the front-end development scene has opened up the power of JavaScript to a far wider audience than ever before. It was born of the need — expressed by a crescendo of screaming by front-end developers who were fast running out of hair to pull out — to improve JavaScript’s somewhat primitive API, to make up for the lack of unified implementation across browsers and to make it more compact in its syntax.
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There comes a point in every website design when you simply want to give the website a little spice to impress the visitor and make it memorable. You want that sexy interaction to capture the user’s attention. In our previous articles, we showed you how to spice up your website with sexy buttons, practical elements and attractive visual effects.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to seduce your visitors with a little JavaScript action. In our examples, we’ll be using jQuery, a fast and concise JavaScript library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animation and Ajax interactions for rapid Web development. Ready? Let’s get things rolling!
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Bookmarklets are small JavaScript-powered applications in link form. Often “one-click” tools and functions, they’re typically used to extend the functionality of the browser and to interact with Web services. They can do things like post to your WordPress or Tumblr blog, submit any selected text to Google Search, or modify a current page’s CSS… and many other things!
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Over the last year, Smashing Magazine has evolved. We’ve been publishing fewer lists and more in-depth articles about design and Web development. We have invited professionals and high-profile developers to write for us. We’ve been investing more resources in the quality and relevance of our articles. We’ve also explored new formats; and on weekends we’ve been publishing more inspirational pieces, leaving the in-depth articles to weekdays.
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Yes, this is another round-up of fresh and useful Javascript techniques, tools and resources. But don’t close the tab yet, as you might find this one very useful. In this selection we present calendars, forms, buttons, navigation, debugging, optimization and compatibility tables as well as handy resources and tools. We also cover various jQuery-plugins that will help you extend the functionality of your website and improve user experience with ready components or coding solutions.
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The simplicity, advanced features and strong support are common arguments for developers preferring jQuery against other JavaScript-frameworks. In fact, jQuery is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks, with powerful tools that can significantly improve the user’s interaction with Web applications.
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