I don't know AJAX, but I have a few question about it. If somebody who knows a thing or two about it, and would care to give a holler, I'd like to shoot a few questions at you.
1. Is it possible to put check boxes inside a designated interchangeable Javascript area?
2. Is it possible to put forms, or text boxes inside an interchangeable Javascrpit area?
3. Is it possible to put hyperlinks inside an interchangeable Javascrpit area?
E.g. There's tabs over a space, and depending on which tabs is pressed different content is displayed, without the need to reloading the page (kind of like the iPod Gallery in the online Apple store). One tab would reveal a "Contact Us" form. One tab would display an "about" section with a hyperlink to get back to the homepage. One tab would have several check-boxes, one of which the user would check, and then fill in an amount via mouse and keyboard in a text box within the same tab, and below they would then click a hyperlink to continue.
All within the designated interchangeable Javascript area. As in when one tab is selected none of the contents of the other tabs as detailed above should be visible.
All without ever reloading the page. Is this possible?
I recommend that you try http://script.aculo.us/. Their library is what is used on Rails as well. Ajax is eye-candy. But heaven forbid if something doesn't work. Debugging is a pain-in-the-neck.
What you've asked is all possible without thinking deeply about how. As in "visually yes"...exactly the way you want it done codewise...as in interchangeable scripts? Sure...yah...um...well, all you're doing is hiding the alternate tab contents (<DIV>) in js. That sounds less fancy.
Quicky google reveals this code sample that i didn't look at closely but looks kinda like all the other examples of how to do this:
Whether that's what you mean by "interchangable" is for you to decide but it does what you want it to do visually. Ajax comes in to populate whatever is in your tabbed area if need be but visually js is all you need. That and Firebug to tell you why nothing appears to be working because there's a typo somewhere.
I recommend that you try http://script.aculo.us/. Their library is what is used on Rails as well. Ajax is eye-candy. But heaven forbid if something doesn't work. Debugging is a pain-in-the-neck.
Ajax isn't the eye candy really. AJAX is making asynchronous calls back to the web server, then taking those results (usually XML, thus the X) and using javascript to manipulate the DOM to update only the necessary components of the page.
Nowadays it seems like any time of DHTML (javascript+html+css) is instantly classified as AJAX somehow.
Oh, also, for debugging AJAX, check out FireBug if you're a firefox user. Amazing plugin and totally changed the way I develop AJAX driven components of sites now. No more alert()'s to debug problems
Great! Yeah that's exactly why I'm interested in this, so the whole site doesn't need to be reloaded to view each tab. The amount of pages will be small, another reason I'm interested in this. Ease of use and clean efficiency too.
I have a few more questions to make sure we are understanding each other correctly?
In this design mock-up I did in iWeb; here each of the pages that represents the tabs and the main grid will to be part of the AJAX technology. Everything within these pinks lines will need to change; here to the page that represents each tab, the checkboxes, the 'contact' from etc on each page will be in turn displayed in the area marked by this pink lines (obviously the pink lines wone be present) depending on which tab has been clicked on.
Chances are I wont go for an elaborate transition when clicking between tabs, but would this 'grow' transition on the right here be possible for everything inside those pink lines when transitioning between tabs? Would the grow transition slow down the initial loading time of the site much, or at all? Would no transition, make the changing between tabs any quicker within the AJAX area (pink lines)? Would no transition, ie like flicking a light switch between tabs make the initial loading of the webpage and faster than if the grow transition was used?
Comments
1. Is it possible to put check boxes inside a designated interchangeable Javascript area?
2. Is it possible to put forms, or text boxes inside an interchangeable Javascrpit area?
3. Is it possible to put hyperlinks inside an interchangeable Javascrpit area?
E.g. There's tabs over a space, and depending on which tabs is pressed different content is displayed, without the need to reloading the page (kind of like the iPod Gallery in the online Apple store). One tab would reveal a "Contact Us" form. One tab would display an "about" section with a hyperlink to get back to the homepage. One tab would have several check-boxes, one of which the user would check, and then fill in an amount via mouse and keyboard in a text box within the same tab, and below they would then click a hyperlink to continue.
All within the designated interchangeable Javascript area. As in when one tab is selected none of the contents of the other tabs as detailed above should be visible.
All without ever reloading the page. Is this possible?
I want to know a few things;
1. Is it possible...
I'm not an expert - but I once read a book about Ruby On Rails. - and I'd say yup.
Look at Basecamp and Google Maps for the most famous examples of Ajax tomfoolery.
C.
I'm not an expert - but I once read a book about Ruby On Rails. - and I'd say yup.
Look at Basecamp and Google Maps for the most famous examples of Ajax tomfoolery.
C.
That sounds more positive than negitive. I hope you're right. Cheers for the help!
What you've asked is all possible without thinking deeply about how. As in "visually yes"...exactly the way you want it done codewise...as in interchangeable scripts? Sure...yah...um...well, all you're doing is hiding the alternate tab contents (<DIV>) in js. That sounds less fancy.
Quicky google reveals this code sample that i didn't look at closely but looks kinda like all the other examples of how to do this:
http://www.netlobo.com/div_hiding.html
Whether that's what you mean by "interchangable" is for you to decide but it does what you want it to do visually. Ajax comes in to populate whatever is in your tabbed area if need be but visually js is all you need. That and Firebug to tell you why nothing appears to be working because there's a typo somewhere.
Vinea
I recommend that you try http://script.aculo.us/. Their library is what is used on Rails as well. Ajax is eye-candy. But heaven forbid if something doesn't work. Debugging is a pain-in-the-neck.
Ajax isn't the eye candy really. AJAX is making asynchronous calls back to the web server, then taking those results (usually XML, thus the X) and using javascript to manipulate the DOM to update only the necessary components of the page.
Nowadays it seems like any time of DHTML (javascript+html+css) is instantly classified as AJAX somehow.
Oh, also, for debugging AJAX, check out FireBug if you're a firefox user. Amazing plugin and totally changed the way I develop AJAX driven components of sites now. No more alert()'s to debug problems
OP: yes everything you described is possible.
OP: yes everything you described is possible.
Great! Yeah that's exactly why I'm interested in this, so the whole site doesn't need to be reloaded to view each tab. The amount of pages will be small, another reason I'm interested in this. Ease of use and clean efficiency too.
I have a few more questions to make sure we are understanding each other correctly?
In this design mock-up I did in iWeb; here each of the pages that represents the tabs and the main grid will to be part of the AJAX technology. Everything within these pinks lines will need to change; here to the page that represents each tab, the checkboxes, the 'contact' from etc on each page will be in turn displayed in the area marked by this pink lines (obviously the pink lines wone be present) depending on which tab has been clicked on.
Chances are I wont go for an elaborate transition when clicking between tabs, but would this 'grow' transition on the right here be possible for everything inside those pink lines when transitioning between tabs? Would the grow transition slow down the initial loading time of the site much, or at all? Would no transition, make the changing between tabs any quicker within the AJAX area (pink lines)? Would no transition, ie like flicking a light switch between tabs make the initial loading of the webpage and faster than if the grow transition was used?