javascript
One of the cornerstones of Web 2.0 is the XMLHttpRequest object [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest]. It allows JavaScript to call back to a web server without incurring a traditional HTTP postback. It's the heart and soul of AJAX [http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-6056954.html], and
forms
Why do HTML forms have to be death by a thousand tiny textboxes? The classic example of this is phone number, which typically forces you to tab through three annoying little textboxes to enter a single number: Why can't we let the user enter the number however they
responsive design
From the "why I don't read Robert Scoble any more" department [http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/01/01/one-wish-for-2006/]: > One thing I wish is that Web site developers/designers would look at their site on a small screen with limited bandwidth. So many sites suck
web development
Every few years, Jakob Nielsen takes websites to task with a Top Ten Web Design Mistakes article. Although things have clearly improved since the original 1996 list, I'm particularly concerned that in the competitive frenzy to get all JavaScripted up for Web 2.0, we may be defeating
javascript
Although I'm no fan of MacromediaAdobe Flash, I have to admit the sIFR JavaScript / Flash typography hack is remarkably well thought out and quite effective. Here's a small GIF movie of it in action: It always bugged me that our only alternative for decent web typeface
css
The CSS Zen Garden [http://www.csszengarden.com] site isn't exactly new news these days, but I've been digesting the excellent CSS Zen Garden book [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321303474/codihorr-20] over the last few months and we now have an opportunity to
html
I'm a big fan of showing the user visual feedback as soon as possible, whether you're downloading a web page or rendering a windows form. Images already render progressively in a web browser -- but you can do even better. Simply save your GIF or PNG
user experience
Seth Godin's Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works [http://www.salted.com/unsalted/files/knockknock.pdf] (6mb PDF) is a great reminder of how to build a popular website without becoming a marketing weasel in the process: > Big Picture #1: A Web site must
apis
There's so much buzz around Flickr right now it's practically deafening. Or maybe I should say blinding, because Flickr is a collaborative photo sharing service. I was perplexed why Yet Another Photo Sharing Website was so hot until I started browsing the myriad hacks and tools
asp.net
I'm currently writing my first ASP.NET 2.0 website. VS.NET 2005 is worlds better than VS.NET 2003, but I was mildly surprised to find that Microsoft still hasn't added a recursive overload for Page.FindControl. So, courtesy of Oddur Magnusson [http://weblogs.asp.
user experience
I was chatting with a fellow developer yesterday, who recently adopted the very cool Busy Box ASP.NET progress indicator that I recommended: We often need to provide a user message informing the user that their request is “processing.” Like the hour-glass mouse pointer lets the Windows user know the
web development
Due to popular demand one person’s request, I added for sale searching to my existing craigslist.org all-city search page. I also made a few other minor improvements: * Searching of Jobs or For Sale items * Selection of subcategories * Age of posts in days is shown as an offset from