Open Source Resources for Web Application Developers

Plugoo enables you to chat directly from your Instant Messenger with any visitor of your blog, personal webpage, e-sales site or even your web application. When you’re logged into your Instant Messenger (Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, GoogleTalk, Jabber or ICQ), you can receive in real time all the comments of your visitors or any question they might ask, and answer instantly!You can also change colors, title of your Plugoo, and visitors can choose a nickname to contact you.

Requirements: Any Modern Browsers
Demo: http://www.plugoo.com
License: License Free

Prototype Window is a javascript class which allows you to add window in a HTML page. This class is based on Prototype. The code is inspired by the powerful script.aculo.us library. You can even use all script.aculo.us effects to show and hide windows if you include effects.js file , but it’s not mandatory. The most important point is that all modal windows are resizable, you can also minimize or maximize at it any time. And they are skinnable as well which means you can apply your own theme for the modal window so that they can match our web application’s style.

Requirements: Safari, Camino, Firefox and Internet Explorer 6+, Opera
Demo: http://prototype-window.xilinus.com/samples.html
License: MIT License

dhtmlxVault (DHTML extensions File Upload) helps you to implement a modern and feature-rich file uploading part of your web application. So much wanted, the Progress bar will inform your customer during long-time operation about the ongoing process. Different file types are displayed with corresponding icons (you may add more file types when required). Built with AJAX technology, the control allows files to be uploaded seamlessly without reloading the entire webpage.

Requirements: Internet Explorer 6+, Mozilla 1.4+, FireFox 0.9+
Demo: http://dhtmlx.com/docs/products/dhtmlxVault/
License: GPL License

Couloir Slideshow is a demonstration of Flash-like behavior implemented solely in Javascript, HTML, and CSS. It is a very good resources for creating a gallery with resizing and fading effects. You are permitted to use it on your own project so long as you do so according to the rules outlined in the Creative Commons ‘Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0′ License and the license terms contained in the associated, third-party APIs.

Requirements: Any Modern Browsers with Javascript Enabled
Demo: http://www.couloir.org/js_slideshow
License: Creative Commons License

LightWindow is the most powerful modal window I have seen so far. It has so many features, you have the complete ability to style and position it. It is very easy to implement as well. Lastly, most moal window application didn’t actually test for their media types and how they behaved in other browsers and operating systems. However, LightWindow has done a great job, other than images, inline content, iframe content and ajax content, it also supports Quicktime Movie, SWF and PDF.

Requirements: Any Modern Browsers
Demo: http://stickmanlabs.com/lightwindow/#demos
License: MIT License

YShout is a lightweight yet full-featured package that allows you to easily add an interactive shoutbox to your website. So that you can communicate with your visitors in real time, and also provide a great chat room for the visitors to discuss on your website or web application. You can tailor YShout’s appearance to fit your website perfectly by using CSS. YShout 5 features a completely rebuilt control panel. It contains some new preferences, as well as a lot of returning favorites.

Requirements: PHP and Javascript
Demo: http://geekchat.net/yshout5/example/
License: Donationware

Sometimes, users are tired of seeing banners and adsense, they are not going to click on it anymore. We have another nice way to generate income from the website or web application. Simply just insert the Text Link Ads code on your website. They sell your ads off your website look like this.

You can choose to approve or deny any text link ads sold prior to the links being published on your website. This ensures that only quality and relevant links appear on your website. And then you can make money without the hassle of dealing sales, invoicing and customer service, Text Link Ads do that for you. You can receive payment via check or PayPal.

Requirements: Website with not too low traffic
Demo: Sign Up Now
License: License Free

SWFUpload is a small javascript and flash library to get the best of both worlds – The great upload capabilitys of flash and the accessibility and ease of html and css. It allows users to upload multiple files at once by ctrl/shift-selecting in dialog, no page reloads necessary. Users can also queue uploads, remove/add files before starting upload. On the other hand, we can style upload elements with XHTML and css as we like.

Requirements: Works on all platforms/browsers that has Flash support
Demo: http://swfupload.mammon.se
License: License Free

DIY Map is a clickable, zooming map written in Flash and colored by data from an external text file. The external data file makes it easy to customize and update state colors, add points, and use the same Flash file many times in the same Web page with different data sets. You can have a world map, USA map or Asia map,etc. It is free for personal, educational, and non-commercial use.

Requirements: Internet Explorer 6.0+, Firefox 0.8+, Safari 1.2.4+, Netscape 7.1+, Mozilla 1.4+, Opera 8.02+
Demo: http://backspace.com/mapapp
License: License Free for Non-Commercial