Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

NIKOLE, thats where DHTML POP UP Windows, Advanced CSS (for Placement) come into play.
I hate using javascripts for pop up windows, So DHTML offers that Clean look.


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Ah yes, a partner in crime - can you pass along an example site Richard?


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chuck fuller

I wouldn`t really advocate using ajax for any of those things - as evidenced by good usage of the methods involved, ajax`s benefit comes not from fancy handling of things like pop ups or anything else better handled by dhtml. The benefit lies in the merging of javascript with xml in order to obviate the need for a server call when data interaction takes place. It can create a faster and more optimized user experience in many cases.


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chuck fuller

DHTML menus are still javascript powered, thus can be disabled if the viewer has javascript deactivated (in his/her browser).

For menu items - CSS based menus work best they are SEO friendly and can produce user friendly mouseover efects.

~Roland

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Ajax is a neat technology. Microsoft has some really interesting stuff at design.microsoft.com. Also, Windows Presentation Foundation. Here`s a link to an interesting demo hosted by Microsoft. Free plugin required.

The new Yahoo mail beta uses AJAX and it`s very nice looking but awfully slow, even on a really fast machine. Our web site doesn`t use anything except XHTML/CSS. Not even a snip of Javascript. But I suppose that will change.

I think the real advantage lies not in your typically designed small business website but in interactive web applications.  Sure AJAX is useful for eye candy but the real power is the page prefetch and JSON/XML integration.

Nikole - I agree that AJAX in most cases doesn`t have a place in a small business website but I definately don`t agree on the cost part.  If you use a pre-existing library (see below) you can dramatically cut development time and make a site that has higher levels of usability (notice I didn`t say accessible ;))

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/
http://www.prototypejs.org/
http://dojotoolkit.org/
ZXML - http://www.nczonline.net/downloads/

Chuck I was referencing the Yahoo Maps API/ AJAX integration in conjunction with the  DHTML pop up windows to create a good looking web site.
Not that I am going to use AJAX, to create a pop up window.
I don`t believe in writing 50 lines of code to get one simple function.
But Like I Said earlier AJAX can be a neat language to to use on a web site.
If you know what you are doing and you know what you want to do with it.



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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I`m totally with Roland on this one.

I personally hate those Javascript powered dropdowns and rollovers. Drives me nuts. And if I see one more person with the MMpreload or whatever it`s called ... ACK!

MM is just a variable (MM =MACROMEDIA) they did this to make the Wizards simple. As far as drop down menus, Well... They are not only Javascript based. If you know how to use Fireworks 8.0 or MX, you can create a full drop down menu in CSS.

Ive created a few for friends and they work perfectly.
Now as far as DHTML and Javascripts, yes they still work together, but what DHTML does is that, it doesn`t give you that ugly "javascript pop up prompt" everytime someone visits your site.



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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net