SproutCore is an open-source platform for building fast rich cloud applications on the web. Specifically, the tools we develop are suitable for building large-scale applications that scale to many millions of users across many different devices.
Given that between smart phones, laptops, netbooks, phones, etc. the one thing all of these devices have in common is that they can run a web browser. It only makes sense that the best, most cost effective way for people to access their data on these devices will be through the web. To truly compete with the native software written for these platforms, however, developers need a way to easily leverage the power of the modern web browser to deliver a compelling, rich user experience.
On the desktop, developers have a pile of build tools, frameworks, and interface designer IDEs to help them create rich dynamic UIs. We need the same thing on the web. That is why SproutCore exists.
Rendr 2 was originally developed as a rapid html prototyping tool, however, the possibilities are endless. As an experiment I downloaded the source and tried designing a page for a marketing site I was working on. I have to say that as a coder / designer the interaction of the app was amazing. I’ve tried designing as I code several times all with fairly good results. In many ways Render 2 added the missing link to this process by getting rid of the hole drag your page to the browser process. Seeing elements change live makes all of the difference.
I’ve experimented with most of the AJAX frameworks that have come out over the last year and ZK lives up to it’s marketing line of, “Simple and Rich”. ZK comes loaded with over 60 XUL and 80 XHTML components are supported, including list boxes, tree, drag-and-drop, auto-completion, sliders, timer, combo boxes, audio and many others. I found the user experience of ZK to be very fluid and can see it being a great resource for designers that do not have high-level programming skill, but still want to experiment with AJAX UI elements.
Paguna is one of the first online booking sites that has gone to a one page AJAX powered user interface. After using their competitors websites for years, I find Paguna a breath of fresh air. There are many UI features I like in this site, however, the drag and drop calendar and the instant language translation are my two favorites. While I do feel there is a slight time difference in the return of information between Paguna and their competitors, for me it’s more the allusion of a time difference. The one page model really seems to work in this case as the experience feels faster than most traditional online booking services. At least to me.
I once again have to caveat this post by saying my company, Ideacodes, which includes myself and Emily Chang (eHub) produced most of the front-end interaction design for CommunityWalk. For that reason, instead of commenting on the wonderful design 
I’ll focus on highlighting some of my favorite UI features. The front page has a row of AJAX powered tabs to let you view popular, recently uploaded and example maps inline, and a great live search. I find the explore page one of the most fascinating aspects to the site. The tags at the top of the page are community generated and allow you to view maps worldwide by interest. I also love the new zoom feature that allows you to zoom in on a map by clicking on it and zoom out by right clicking. These are just a few of the intuitive user interface features found on CommunityWalk. After you view the demo I would like to invite you to visit the CommunityWalk website and give it a try.
I have to caveat this post by saying my company, Ideacodes, which includes myself and Emily Chang (eHub) produced all of the front-end interaction design for this site. That said, I would like to point out one of my favorite UI features in Stylehive. The bookmarklet is easy to use and full featured. As with most social bookmarking sites the url and title of the page are pulled in. The difference in the Stylehive bookmarklet is the image feature and the depth of information you can add to your bookmark in the “Tag Suggestion” panel. Give it a try!
I was fortunate to see a live demo of flagr a month ago and was impressed by their product. Their original signup page had a prominent distressed logo which I found very refreshing. They kept the logo, however the distressing is less prominent. The user experience is smooth, intuitive and fun. By far, the feature that sets flagr apart from the pack is the mobile connectivity. A very useful feature that I will use often.