Coffee and Code

Scriptaculous is an uber-cool set of javascript libraries geared toward rich, interactive user interface design. It's built on top of Prototype, another fantastic javascript framework,  and delivers a ton of easy-to-use, cross-browser effects, transitions, and other user interface tools.

I don't know why it took me so long to get into scriptaculous... maybe it's the do-it-yourself punker in me that avoids such conveniences (But why rewrite all of that code, when scriptaculous is well-written, robust, and free??) At any rate, I finally downloaded the libraries a few days ago while out searching for a good drag 'n drop script. Now, I feel like kicking my own ass for not downloading scriptaculous sooner!

The scriptaculous website has many usage examples, but I thought it was a little difficult to find specific usage examples; there were a couple of instances where I resorted to viewing the source code on the demo pages. All that aside, in many cases you can enable the scriptacular fanciness with one line of javascript (such as registering a draggable element on a page):

Not bad! And here's a quickie function that toggles between SlideUp and SlideDown:

function doSlide(id)
{
    var elem = document.getElementById(id);
    if (elem.style.display == "none")
        new Effect.SlideDown(id);
    else
        new Effect.SlideUp(id);
}

Script.aculo.us is, in my humble opinion, a worthwhile addition to any web developer or designer's arsenal.