Xooxia Development

OK, one of my favorite navigational schemes is the breadcrumbs list.  I like it’s ease of use in developing and presenting to the user, and I like the quick visual that it gives a user as to the hierarchical structure of the site.  One great little script that I ran across is called Cookie Crumbs.  Here is the script in a nutshell:

• This script keeps track of where a user has been via cookies read and written in JavaScript
• It is a true list of your trail history (much like the browser’s history, but you can see it visually)
  Most breadcrumbs scripts list the site hierarchy, not the true user history
• Easily configurable - the list is written to the screen through JavaScript and formatted with CSS
• Unobtrusive, if a user doesn’t have JavaScript enabled, they’ll not see the list at all

Take a look at the script here:  http://www.tomcoote.co.uk/JavaScriptCookieCrumbs.aspx

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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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Creating a site map for a site is a very useful addition for your visitors. Users will get to see a hierarchical structure of your site at a quick glance and can then visit pages more easily. They’re also very useful for opening all of your links to search engines. The problem with site maps is they’re hard to navigate if your site has many, many pages. However, allowing users to see a collapsed version and be able to expand sections as needed could help them navigate without becoming overwhelmed.

XooMapper v1.2

XooMapper v1.2 is a small script I’ve developed to help create an expandable site map. Read the rest of this entry »

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Google has released version 0.5 of the OpenSocial API. It’s basically a standards based method to write gadgets that can be available to any site that implements the API. What this means for developers is that you’re able to write a gadget once and it can be included in various sites that use OpenSocial. I’ve been tinkering with some of the patterns relevant to social networking, even beginning a small project with a co-worker, and have just begun researching OpenSocial.

In a quick example of what OpenSocial can be used to develop, let’s say that you are a member of an online social network. We’ll call it myNet. Within myNet, you have listed about 45 others as ‘friends’ in your network, so you’re able to send/receive messages to each of them, see what news stories they have commented on, see what pages they’ve recently bookmarked, etc. You have quite a bit of functionality available in myNet. The developers within myNet have given you quite a few options that you can customize to meet your needs. However, you’re also a member Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the concepts that I find very intriguing today is that of inline editing. Inline editing refers to being able to view a website normally and change the content directly on that page. This concept has been used via data grids for a while now, but is starting to become a more common way to update regular xhtml content on a web page.

The most common way to have a layman update content on a site is through an administration page. That is, the user will log in to the admin section of a site, choose the page to edit from a list of available pages, and then update the content through an online form and submit those changes. The changes are entered into the database and the next time the page is loaded, the server-side code pulls the new content to include into the page.

There are two obvious drawbacks to this set-up. Read the rest of this entry »

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