A re-introduction to JavaScript from the Mozilla Developer center. I challenge you to find a more clear and comprehensive overview of the JavaScript language. Covers everything from the history of the language to its more advanced concepts (closures, memory leaks, etc.)
Code Conventions for the JavaScript Programming Language from Crockford. The man, the myth, the legend. Everything he’s written about JavaScript should be read, but this article in particular offers a good starting point.
The Elements of JavaScript Style Part One, and Part Two, again from Crockford. Together with the aforementioned Code Conventions article, they make a pretty good basis for writing clean, efficient code.
Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site from Yahoo. The JavaScript advice is invaluable. It talks about the big stuff that will actually make a noticeable difference to your users.
The JavaScript Reference Series by Pat Hunlock. Much more comprehensive and useful than similar, more common references (I’m looking at you w3Schools).
When working with a group of developers, it’s important to agree on and maintain similar coding practices. Consistency in syntax, structure, and included components will allow for easier cooperation, at little to no expense. Recently I tried to put together a list of such standards for JavaScript development, based on what I believe to be best practices. Check it out:
In a previous post I mentioned that I would revisit cross-domain AJAX calls to measure the helpfulness of JavaScript frameworks like DOMAssistant and Prototype. In this post I’ll use DOMAssistant to perform the same basic tests I did previously, while evaluating the potential increase in efficiency.
I’ve had several projects in the past few months which have called for some limited content management capabilities. In cases like these, where only small sections of the site need to be handled by an administrator, it seems silly to build the entire site on top of existing CMS platforms like Joomla or Drupal. The problem is, if you build a small administration area, you’ll have to have some mechanism for specifying simple HTML content for the non-tech savvy.
I recently worked on a site which called for two separate Flash elements to begin their actions simultaneously. Our extremely talented Flash developer couldn’t accomplish this using only the Flash, as they were two completely separate files. Enter Flash’s ExternalInterface. This new (to versions 8 and above) object allows for easier-than-ever coordination between JavaScript and Flash.