With the emergence of HTML5, a lot of people are wondering “what does this mean for Flash?” Until now, Flash has really been the only technology available to deliver RIAs (rich internet applications). And to be truthful, no one has been complaining because Adobe has done such a great job with it. As great as Flash had been for us, Google think that it’s time for a new era in web development. The purpose of this post is to define how each of these technologies work, explore the implications of HTML5, and predict how these technologies will evolve in the future.
Archive for the ‘Javascript’ Category
How to Improve Website Speed
Posted on July 26th, 2010
by Eric Rowell
Is your website loading slowly? In my experience, there are six guaranteed ways to increase website loading times. Here they are! 1) External CSS and JavaScript files A lot of web developers don’t think about this one. Although some people code their CSS styles and JavaScript functions at the top of an HTML page for [...]
HTML 2-Way Buffered Grid Using Javascript
Posted on July 9th, 2010
by Eric Rowell
The purpose of this post is to explore a special area in HTML and Javascript development called buffered grids. In particular, I wanted to share some code that I came up with that generates a 2-Way buffered grid which performs very well even if the data in question has hundreds of rows and columns.
How to Make Synchronous AJAX Calls
Posted on June 22nd, 2010
by Eric Rowell
Although AJAX is primary used to make asynchronous calls, it is sometimes important to make sure that a series of AJAX calls is in a particular order. In other words, it is sometimes necessary to make synchronous AJAX calls. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of good tutorials out there for how to do this, so I thought I would take a moment to explain how it works. The purpose of this post is to explore the asynchronous and synchronous nature of AJAX, provide a demo for both cases, and provide working code for both implementations.
The Power of jQuery: AJAX and RIA Components
Posted on June 10th, 2010
by Eric Rowell
Released in January of 2006, jQuery is a cross-browser JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting. Used by over 27% of the top 10,000 most visited websites in the world, jQuery makes it easy to handle DOM objects, events, effects and AJAX, automatically takes care of JavaScript leaks, and has countless third party plugins. The purpose of this post is to give an overview of what jQuery has to offer, and why you should be using it.
HTML5 Notification Example
Posted on May 31st, 2010
by Eric Rowell
HTML5 Notifications are yet another great addition to the new HTML5 specification. The API allows websites to send notifications to your desktop. Don’t be surprised if you see social networking sites or microblogging sites like Facebook or Twitter utilizing the new feature very soon. For example, let’s say that someone on Facebook sends you an instant message. Currently, if you’re viewing another website in a different window while Facebook is open, and a user sends you an instant message, Facebook will alert you by updating the webpage with AJAX, causing the associated browser tab to flash. With HTML5, Facebook could now send an alert directly to your desktop with an embedded instant message. The purpose of this post is to explain how to use HTML5 notifications while providing a concrete example for using them in your own website.
HTML5 Emulators in IE: ExplorerCanvas vs. Google Chrome Frame
Posted on May 18th, 2010
by Eric Rowell
Currently, there are two major ways to emulate HTML5 inside IE6, 7, and 8, and both tools are provided by Google. So which one is best for you? The purpose of this post is to explore both emulators and determine which one is right for which situations.
IE JavaScript Performance Boost with Google Chrome Frame
Posted on May 17th, 2010
by Eric Rowell
Microsoft, no longer will you hinder the web with your slow, out-dated, archaic web browsers. Until recently, web page loading times and JavaScript performance has been bottlenecked by IE6, IE7, and IE8. Thankfully, Google has taken things into their own hands and “fixed” Microsoft’s browsers themselves by creating the Google Chrome Frame plugin which basically enables web pages to load and run inside an IE browser as if it were running inside Google Chrome (the fastest browser on Earth). Websites are now leveraging the Google Chrome Frame plugin to speed up JavaScript performance for both HTML4 and HTML5 websites.