Michael Richard Murphy

I’m pretty excited that this week I added some pretty cool drag and drop functionality to an application I’ve been working on. I talked about Yahoo!’s UI library here a while ago and finally put it to use.

I’ve been converting a PowerPoint presentation and exercises used by Human Resources to train new hires into a web application and drag and drop seemed like the perfect design for a term matching exercise.

The application isn’t available outside our corporate network but I hope (I use that term loosely given the frequency of my posts lately) to post some examples of what’s possible at some point.

I don’t want to downplay my Javascript skills but Yahoo! has made it pretty easy to implement these libraries. There’s a downloadable zip of dependent files for each library that developers link to in their applications. After that, the API provides you with the methods for adding whatever interaction you like. I was able to put together a passable application in an afternoon and now it just needs some polishing and finishing touches.

Check out Yahoo!’s UI Library and create!

Ajax freaks working in the .Net environment should run right out and download Atlas, a new development framework from Microsoft. I said run.

Atlas integrates client-side script libraries with the server-based services of ASP.NET in order to create some really rich, interactive UIs. I watched a demo in which Microsoftie Scott Guthrie created a simple to-do list with tons of functionality in less than 20 minutes. The mini-application let users sort by task status, insert new tasks, and modify existing tasks all without page refreshes.

Scott also used some new, cool ASP.NET 2.0 methods that make handy things like pagination and alternating row colors super easy. There’s also another new method that makes it easy to display update statuses. As interfaces use page refreshes less and less to fetch data, letting the user know what’s going on becomes more important. Scott demonstrated this new method makes that as simple as drag and drop from the tool palette. Cool.

I was originally going to tell you how this book I’ve been reading, Ajax in Action by Dave Crane and Eric Pascarello with Darren James, has made me a Javascript phenom and how I’m putting together amazingly interactive interfaces using Ajax.

Instead, I’ll just tell you how Yahoo!’s Developer Network has pre-built interfaces and design patterns. All open source under BSD license. Want to implement drag n’ drop functionality? How about breadcrumbs or pagination? Auto-complete? Look no further, it’s all there. Quite a few of these have sparked my interest and will no doubt save time on future projects.

I’ll probably still finish the book however.