jQuery – Website Eye Candy

Vince Scordino | 21/07/2009

In the fast-changing world of Web 2.0, a developer always joins forces with one of the many JavaScript libraries available. A JavaScript library is a simplified way of writing JavaScript event handlers, animation, Ajax interactions for all rapid web development. In other words, all those pretty animated pop-ups, polling, image galleries and scrolling duvalaki’s that you’ve seen recently pop-up over websites on the net, use a JavaScript library.

One example leading the pack is jQuery. Not only is jQuery the most detected JavaScript library in use on the web, it also provides features and functions of JavaScript that eliminate browser compatibility issues with a vast range of plug-ins.

A couple of my favourite plug-ins include:

Carousel
A simple and effective horizontal/vertical scrolling function that can be applied to news tickers and image galleries. Content slides as arrows are clicked or hovered.
Vote/Star Rating
Whether your site is driven by user-generated blogs, event reviews or podcasts, a rating system is a fantastic example of web 2.0 user interaction. A vote/rating of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), based on the relevance and effectiveness of the article or blog.
Lightbox Image/Video Pop-ups
A great addition to your site that not only adds the icing to your unique website design, but also counter-acts usability issues with browser pop-ups being blocked by pop-up blockers.
Surveys/Polls
When you need to find what your users are thinking, a survey/poll system is the best way to gain a valuable insight and measure satisfaction, whatever you decide on asking!