Happy Friday! This week’s enlightenment brought you by the lovely JavaScript framework JQuery. If you like unobtrusive and functional javascript utilities, you really have to check it out. A while ago, I converted from prototype and haven’t looked back. I even built a plugin to help with our development process called under_construction. Use it to overlay or hide elements of page that haven’t been implemented yet.

• Achieving Rounded Corners in Internet Explorer for jQuery UI with DD_roundies – this was an effective technique for getting rounded corners to be respected in Internet Explorer. I used the DD_roundies library in conjunction with the rounded corners plugin
• Tips for Writing Better JQuery Code – loaded with great tips on optimizing your javascript
• Write Desktop and Mobile Apps with Bowline – I played around with this a few days ago and I really like it. If you consider yourself well versed in Rails, HTML, and JQuery, I highly recommend you check this framework out. I’m hashing out a few OS X applications without a single reference to NSWindow – crazy!
• Have google load JQuery for you – this has made it into my upcoming Rails Template – save on bandwidth costs and get snappy delivery of your javascript libraries via Google’s Content Delivery Network

On an off topic note, I’ve been using RescueTime and Concentrate.app to help maintain productivity. A blog post on Concentrate.app is forthcoming

under_construction is a jQuery plugin that hides or overlays elements of a design that have not been implemented yet. The best part is that it is done completely with standards compliant markup and unobtrusive JavaScript.

This utility works extremely well in Agile environments where there is design work done upfront. I use it extensively and clients really appreciate the ability to see what’s done and not done in a new application.

In this update:

• improved namespacing – no more collisions. To update, your function calls must be of the form $.under_construction.<function name>
• improved opacity – Due to some functions that were recently made available in the latest versions of jQuery, I was able to restructure the overlay so you get a cleaner look over darker backgrounds.

See the demo for more details.

In the future, I’m hoping to add iteration/sprint labels to the overlays so the client or stakeholder can see at what point the feature is going to be built.