Xooxia Development

Soon, I’ll be adding a few tips and techniques that I’ve learned with integrating Prototype and Scriptaculous into some sites that I have had a hand in developing.  My aim is to utilize many different aspects of the frameworks to help others to integrate these amazing tools into their projects.  I’m a big fan of this tandem for various reasons, but mostly because of the ease of cross browser/platform development.  In the past, I’ve shied away from extensive JavaScript development because of the browser inconsistencies - utilizing mostly server based technologies.  With the use of these frameworks, I’m able to develop a more usable interface in my projects and it has really opened the door to opportunities that would be impossible solely with server-side scripting.  For example, a current project of mine, CheerMix Download, makes heavy use of each of these frameworks.  Without the client-side interaction, this site would never work.

In the works

Some of the topics I have planned for inclusion are:

• Drag and Drop Reordering of Pages Wordpress Plugin (Sortables, Ajax, Server-Side Scripting)
• A Basic Page Layout Module (Drag and Drop, Ajax, Cookies/DB Integration)
• Using XML and JSON with Ajax
• Event Listeners for Unobtrusive JavaScript

These are just the first topics that I plan to discuss.  If you have any requests for a topic, please let me know in the comments section.

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This is a great resource to show your clients when they ask for a new website or a revamped website. Many times, clients will just say that they want to be in the “top 10″ of the search engines. As a developer, you can do many things to help a site achieve higher search engine ranking. However, unless you also generate the content for a site, you really are limited to what you can do to really achieve those top spots. Below is a video of Stephanie Leffler, Senior VP of Network Solutions talking about some basic tips to get listed highly in the SERPs. She explains how content is the king in placements. Getting your clients to maintain a blog or write individual articles regarding their products is a tedious task. However, it’s essential to good Search Engine Rankings. Take a look at the video!

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Manipulating the DOM is not a very difficult task, and with the increase in AJAX use, more developers are taking advantage of this technique. The object is to be able to update the page on the client side. However, be sure that any actions that are taking place are not hidden from users without JavaScript or users using accessibility devices. Here is a very easy to understand tutorial I found on YouTube that explains the basic properties and methods of scripting the DOM. This also makes it extremely easy to create a DOM Cheat Sheet with the properties and methods mentioned.

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Free online tutorials are the way most of us tend to learn new tasks. Some tutorials are easy, some are hard. You just need to be able to search through them quickly to decipher what is worth your time and what isn’t. Take a look at Tutorial Cover, it’s a great list of available tutorials. They’re listed by categories, so you can go directly where you need to. You can see how they’ve been rated by others and what difficulty level they are.

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If you haven’t used the Firebug add-on for Firefox yet, here’s a quick little video tutorial I found on YouTube. Doesn’t go into some of the more advanced uses of Firebug, but is a great starting point. If you know of any other great Firebug tutorials, please let me know!

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