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.
Tag Archives: ajax
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ZK – Simple and Rich AJAX Framework
– April 5, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Applications, Frameworks. -
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Color Tool – AJAX Website Color Picker
– April 5, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Applications, Prototyping. -
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Paguna – AJAX Powered Hotel Bookings
– March 23, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Applications, Reservations. -
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.
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Attack of the AJAX Activity Indicators
– March 17, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Activity Indicators, Design Patterns. -
OK, I have to admit this demo makes me feel a bit like I’m sitting at my computer in 1997 looking at a clip art site full of spinning email buttons, however, these AJAX activity indicators are essential to web applications which use asynchronous requests. When an action happens through the use of an XMLHttpRequest the user needs some kind of indication that an action has occurred. A large percentage of the activity indicators that my company uses are custom built for the individual company, however, circumstances such as timelines and budgets often get in the way of custom indicators. This page offers an excellent array of stock indicators. Caution: starring at this demo too long will make you sick. 
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iOutliner AJAX Idea Organizer
– March 4, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Design Patterns, Organizers. -
The iOutliner marketing website has a to-the-point task based user interface with a nice mix of gradients, icons, and high contrast large fonts. The application itself is smooth, intuitive and fast via an AJAX layer. A very clean user experience.
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BubbleShare's AJAX Image Zoom
– March 3, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Design Patterns, Images & Media. -
I’ve been interested in image galleries and slideshows since I started designing for the web in 1996. Recently AJAX and web 2.0 social features have changed the way we view and think about photo sharing. BubbleShare has just released a new AJAX image zoom feature that takes web-based image viewing to the next level. When you click on the BubbleZoom link, you’re presented with an AJAX magnifier that allows you to zoom in on any part of a image just by hovering over it with your mouse. This is an intuitive and helpful addition to any image viewing application.
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AJAX Fisheye List Widget Demo
– March 1, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Design Patterns, Navigation. -
Dojo Tool Kit has come up with a new web based non-flash menu which is easy to use, and is loaded with the “wow factor”. After ten years of designing with standard navigational constructs we finally have many new and exciting possibilities to help users navigate websites. The AJAX Fisheye List Widget is basically a javascript version of the Apple Dock. As a mac owner I love the user interaction with Apple’s Dock, however, until now this has only been available on the web through Flash. Watch out, this could well be the next Yellow Fade Technique.
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Logahead – AJAX Weblog
– February 27, 2006 - No comments - Posted in Blog Patterns, Design Patterns. -
Finally, someone has produced a blog that uses many of the current popular AJAX widgets along with web 2.0 social features. The seventeen year old developer has produced a great user experience with an inline admin, tagging, and rss support. Adding content is enhanced by inline editing, deleting and creating of all of the page content. The themes are controlled with one click. and since they are CSS based they are easy to develop and configure.
