via ajaxian:
Firefox Bon Echo Alpha 3 just came out into the wild. This gives us a glimpse into new features that we will be getting.
The big item is Client-side session and persistent storage meaning that we will be able to use JavaScript to:
globalStorage.namedItem(domain).setItem(..)
There are also other nice features such as microsummary support, anti-phishing, and inline spellchecking.
http://www.yahoo.com/?p=1147811418
Things I really like about it:
1) the tour is awesome. Stellar. Spectacular. Probably easily implemented.
2) an editable list of shortcuts (the left nav), with a link to show all the yahoo services that just rolls out and then hides when you’re finished.
3) the ‘carousel’ is tabs with words (no 1 2 3 4 5 stuff) with 4 stories in each tab (again, headlines and thumbnails). I love this carousel! Imagine the same thing on cnet except it said news, downloads, reviews, etc. each with 4 features. My only complaint is that it doesn’t remember which tab I previously viewed.
4) Ajax access to your mail, messenger, and local info.
5) an index/tab based search (no drop down) that’s up front and center
6) clean, crisp, uncrowded layout that allows me to drill into categories of interest (the tabbed carousels in particular) makes the page feel light and organized.
A developer friend of mine recently turned me on to haXe (pronounced “HAX-ee”, a sort of generic programming language that gets compiled into java, php, active script (flash), javascript, etc. This means you write all your code in one language (haXe) and then compile it to whatever application language you want. If it spits out javascript, for example, it delints it (no white spaces or comments) and renames all the name spaces to short (abstract) variable names to create the smallest file possible. Because you’re authoring everything in haXe, the compiler runs like any other compiler, helping to ensure your code will execute. I’m not sure how it works if you want to use 3rd party libraries (I’m thinking about things like Scriptaculous), but it sounds very, very promising. I’d love to see some more qualified folks than myself evaluate it. Read the rest of this entry »
via Ajaxian:
Google Calendar has launched in beta, and it has a lot of great Ajax in it.
It feels like GMail and Google Reader, and has great performance.
There are some nice patterns, such as highlighting elements in yellow means that you can click to go into edit mode on that element. If you click on a date, the textual representation changes to become a date picker. Read the rest of this entry »
Venue Update:
Yahoo! Sunnyvale Campus
701 First Avenue
Building C, Classroom 5
Sunnyvale, CA
6-9PM, April 12, 2006
WebGuild Silicon Valley presents
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Date & Time:
April 12, 2006
6 - 9:30pm
Venue:
Google Inc.
900 Alta Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
Map & Directions
Agenda:
6pm : Food & Drinks
7pm : Presentation
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Overview:
With the advent of Ajax, new patterns have emerged for designing web applications. Yahoo! has recently released its design pattern library where it has begun the process of cataloging these emerging patterns. The patterns form a vocabulary for both designers and developers. However, patterns by themselves are not enough. In this talk Scott will discuss the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library, the Yahoo! User Interface Library and present a set of design principles for applying patterns to your web designs. Each principle is explored with illustrating patterns along with a discussion of specific design caveats for each. Read the rest of this entry »
Sorry about the non-annotated linkdump. Aaron’s always after me to post stuff here instead of emailing him links to new things I find, but I just don’t have time to describe all these sites. At least I categorized them… Read the rest of this entry »
Along with the release of its User Interface Library, Yahoo! has compiled their Design Pattern Library for designers and UI developers. “A pattern describes an optimal solution to a common problem within a specific context,” reads the section on the Yahoo! Developer Network. The site offers best practices and examples of patterns such as breadcrumbs, drag-and-drop customization, module tabs, and auto-complete, among others.
Holy crap! This interface is beautiful. I wish I could make the video full screen, but you can still get the idea. When I think of where CNET needs to go with personalization technologies, I think of interfaces like this one.
Yahoo just released its javascript libraries for public consumption. Lots of tools here for DOM Manipulation, Animation, AJAX, Event monitoring, etc. It’ll be interesting to see how their work differs from other projects like prototype.