Many popular frameworks, CMS's and ecommerce platforms come preloaded with a JavaScript library like jQuery or Prototype. Most of the time, these systems heavily depend on those libraries for functionality on both the frontend and the backend; removing it or changing the variables it uses could severly break the site.

Image slideshows are a popular method of displaying a larger volume of pictures in websites. Not only do they reduce the amount of page real-estate these photos would use but also if done correctly, can add a wow factor to any site. By making use of the handy Cycle plugin for jQuery, we can easily create a slideshow of our own, complete with previous and next navigation controls. Not a master of Javascript?

I'm pleased to introduce Unleashed Technologies' first open-source project, "maxchars"!  maxchars is a jQuery plugin for easily adding and enforcing character limits on input elements with a friendly UI.  It works similar to Twitter, where users are presented with a helpful message stating the number of remaining characters or notifying them if they've exceeded the limit.  Similar plugins already exist, but we wanted to design something far simpler and easy to integrate.

JavaScript has quickly become an important language used in many aspects of website development. Although it may look very simple and straightforward to new programmers, it has several features and "gotchas" that may leave you scratching your head, wondering why your code doesn't work. This article will help you understand some of these ideas and explain how you can implement them to instantly improve your scripts.

"Flash animation" is a buzz word that a majority of our clients will use to describe animation, special effects, and generally any moving part on their web presence. Even though the same solution could be built in many different ways, the customer knows it only to be "Flash", and as such, only asks for Flash. As most clients work in different industries, they may not know that other solutions exist or if Flash is even the best tool for their project.

Exactly one year ago, John Resig and the jQuery team released version 1.3. This release came packed with feature upgrades, such as the new ultra-fast Sizzle selector engine, live event bindings, and more. Development has been rather quiet since then, leading many to speculate that nothing major was going on - boy were they wrong!

One common theme in great user interfaces is the ability to edit content in place without page reload. If you are displaying any kind of editable content to a user, that user will almost expect the ability to manipulate their content without having to work through one or more page reloads. Javascript is the perfect candidate to utilize this type of functionality within your website. More specifically, the jQuery framework will simplify your task even more.