According to this post on the YUI group, the YUI team will be releasing a charting component. Based on YUI’s Datasource, the new control will ultimately render charts in Flash.

Most high-quality charting apps (MeasureMap / Google Analytics) run their charts on Flash/Flex as it is. I’d love a skinnable, charting tool that would let me write JavaScript and let the API fill in the details, though. (It would also save me from buying Flex + Flex Charting tools. ) I’ve been looking for an OSS JavaScript-based charting package forever; hopefully, this will fit the bill.

I wonder if this is a collaboration between the YUI team and the still-new Yahoo! Flash team?

technorati tags:yui, javascript, charting

CSSVista is a free Windows application for web developers which lets you edit your CSS code live in both Internet Explorer and Firefox simultaneously. If you like this, you may be interested in our browser compatibility service, Litmus. Yes, that’s why this software is free!

CSSVista - Edit your CSS code live on Internet Explorer and Firefox - Litmus

Does this support conditional comments, or will it force people to reintroduce browser hacks into their stylesheet workflow again? (Side-by-side -> IE hacks to get it working -> pull IE hacks out and build IE-only stylesheet)?

Edit: Yep, it does support conditional comments. Nice!

technorati tags:css, cssvista

Non-tech, but worth a link.

technorati tags:ilovebuffalo

n some browsers (most notably, Firefox), although innerHTML is generally much faster than DOM methods, it spends a disproportionate amount of time clearing out existing elements vs. creating new ones. Knowing this, we can combine the speed of destroying elements by removing their parent using the standard DOM methods with creating new elements using innerHTML.

When innerHTML isn’t Fast Enough…

innerHTML is more than a simple string. When you inject markup via innerHTML, you’re in fact causing the browser to render (or destroy) a potentially huge amount of elements. This article really hammers home the power of a document’s node structure: instead of deleting thousands of children one by one, delete the parent and can them all in one single action. Very cool method of "improving" innerHTML and scoring a potental performance coup and something to look for to improve code performance.

technorati tags:javacript, innerhtml

Conditional Compilation of JScript/ JavaScript in IEIn IE, there is a little known feature called conditional compilation. Supported since IE4, this feature starting getting some attention when it began showing up in some Ajax related JavaScripts. An absolute form of object detection, conditional compilation lets you dictate to IE whether to compile certain parts of your JScript or JavaScript code depending on predefined and user defined conditions. Think of it as conditional comments for your script that can also be molded to work gracefully with non IE browsers as well.

Conditional Compilation of JScript/ JavaScript in IE

Essentially, you’re doing a browser sniff without the if-else branching. Other browsers see a comment, IE sees code that it should compile and run. No more document.all tests necessary (or however you’re handling that sort of thing). Really powerful.

technorati tags:ie, conditionalcompilation, javascript

Step 1: Idea
Step 2: Build
Step 3: Figure out how much to charge
Step 4: Profit.

read more | digg story

CSS+Javascript power. Fancy menu. Really nice Flash look-and-feel in JavaScript, which means “I have something that looks cool that will degrade gracefully.” Very bouncy and round. I was right when I thought it used the famous Sliding Doors technique for its stretchiness, which means I follow A List Apart too closely. (via Molecular colleague Paul Irish.

technorati tags:mootools, menu, stolenlink

For all you obsessive designers that feel the need to style every possible form input (thus making the web browser look and feel exactly like the Mac’s Aqua interface).

File inputs (
) are the bane of beautiful form design. No rendering engine provides the granular control over their presentation designers desire. This simple, three-part progressive enhancement provides the markup, CSS, and JavaScript to address the long-standing irritation.

Styling File Inputs with CSS and the DOM // ShaunInman.com

I’m all for making things pretty. However, users have been trained for a long, long time to expect things like file inputs to look and feel a certain way. Are our designs worth retraining users or bending users’ expectations for how these things should behave?

(via Ajaxian).(Also, the top Flash thing on that site with the trick makes me sea-sick, in a “wow, that’s cool” way. :-)).

technorati tags:design, forminput, css, javascript

Rainbow Hash Cracking

Coding Horror: Rainbow Hash Cracking

Always salt your hash.

technorati tags:rainbowtable, hash, salt

Protoscript is a simplified scripting language for creating Ajax style prototypes for the Web. With Protoscript it’s easy to bring interface elements to life. Simply connect them to behaviors and events to create complex interactions.

Protoscript - Home

Wow, this is awesome. I like how it sits on top of both jQuery (for the quick and dirty syntax) and YUI (for the heavy lifting).

technorati tags:prototscript, javascript, prototyping