Web 2.0 designs and Javascript

Web design has evolved a lot in the last few years, and beside an good design, you definitely need JavaScript components. You can use it’s functionality to create transitional effects such as fading and sliding animation.

Many times, writing Javascript code was an real pain in the ass, but thanks to the open source Javascript frameworks, we don’t need to write custom Javascript from scratch anymore. Here are some kool Javascript plugins that you can use to enhance the user experience and functionality of your website. You can see the demos to make an better impression on how to use these scripts.

Often you will include in your site an pictures gallery, in this case you will need an way to organize this gallery, to navigate, zoom, etc.

For this you can choose from several plugins:

Lightbox

You’re probably very familiar with Lightbox — a light Javascript used to display overlay images on the current page. The original Lightbox was released in 2005. Since then, there are many scripts released with similar features using different approaches and Javascript libraries.

jQuery lightBox Plugin

This is exactly the same as Lightbox JS, but written on top of jQuery library.

jQZoom

jQZoom allows you to show a magnified image of the thumbnail. This technique is commonly used in eCommerce websites (check out the Gap site for a sample).

Organize your Gallery and Slideshow

Slideshow 2! for Mootools

Slideshow 2! is a javascript class for Mootools 1.2 to stream and animate the presentation of

images on your website.

SmoothGallery

Using mootools v1.11, this javascript gallery and slideshow system allows you to have simple and smooth (cross-fading…) image galleries, slideshows, showcases and other cool stuff on your website.