Designer Web Design - Websites just got better

People always want newer and more exciting things. This is true for websites with the static, plain sites of yesterday being replaced by the animated and more graphical pleasing sites of today. One of the ways of adding the “wow” factor to a website design is to make the webpages dynamic and interactive, and to include transition effects to some of the items on the webpage. The programming language of choice for Internet websites is usually JavaScript, as this is included in the web browsers used to navigate the Internet. In the past each web designer has started from scratch and individually programmed the necessary code to achieve the required effects.

Enter the JavaScript Libraries.

A JavaScript Library is a collection of pre-written routines used to develop software and perform functions in JavaScript. In computing terms, the aim of a Library is to simplify and standardise the approach. Think of the individual routines within the Library as lego building blocks – the website designer can pick and choose any combination of size, shape and colour in order to build up his website. The resulting webpage is usually created more rapidly and is more likely to meet common standards.

jQuery - the most popular JavaScript Library in use today

jQuery is a free, open-source JavaScript Library, used by over 52% of the 10,000 most visited Internet websites today. It offers many advantages such as:

• cross-browser support
  websites developed using the jQuery framework will function correctly across all or the majority of the commonly used web browsers


• simplified development
  low-level JavaScript coding knowledge is no longer required since this is bundled up in the jQuery syntax and language constructs


• modular approach
  allowing the creation and development of Internet websites using selected parts of the jQuery Library

jQuery was released in 2006. It's author (John Resig) originally intended to call it jSelect, however as experienced by many businesses, all the domain names had been already reserved. He contented himself with jQuery which may be somewhat confusing as the jQuery Library has little to do with queries.

It is presented and marketed with the tag-line of "Write Less, Do More" and is designed to change the way that programmers use and write JavaScript for Internet Websites. The statstics of jQuery usage prove that many Website Designers agree with this, and that it is being used more and more in modern Website Design.

I will explore in more depth what jQuery can do for you and your business website in future articles, however for a sneak preview click on jQuery zoom for small business website. At the bottom of the page there is a horizontal image of the interior of a Hair Dressing salon in Hucknall. Position your mouse over it and watch a simple but impressive demonstration of the powers of jQuery.

This and other functionality can be integrated quickly and easily into your Small Business Website. It is a low-cost/high-impact improvement guaranteed to enhance and breathe new life into any Internet site. Do not hesitate to contact us today with any questions about how our expertise in jQuery can enhance and improve your Internet Webpages.