Open Source Resources for Web Application Developers

I think many readers are familiar with this awesome Javascript CSS Menu by Devthought, but I really need to include it in WebAppers. Fancy Menu is nothing to do with Flash. it is a custom navigation bar with some cute Javascript effects that will certainly impress your friends. It requires Mootools library, this beauty is contained in 1.5kb. Not only that, but it’s also cross browser (tested on Internet Explorer 6/7, Firefox and Safari) and accessible.

Requirements: Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox and Safari
Demo: http://devthought.com/cssjavascript-true-power-fancy-menu/
License: License Free

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PHP/SWF Charts is a simple, yet powerful PHP tool to create attractive web charts and graphs from dynamic data. Use PHP scripts to generate or gather the data from databases, then pass it to this tool to generate Flash (swf) charts and graphs. PHP/SWF Charts makes the best of both the PHP and SWF worlds. PHP scripts provide integration, and Flash provides the best graphic quality. It supports many charts types, Line, Column, Stacked column, Floating column, 3D column, Stacked 3D column, Parallel 3D column, Pie, 3D Pie, Bar, Stacked bar, Floating bar, Area, Stacked area, Candlestick, Scatter, Polar, Mixed, Composite and Joined. Can you ask for more? They have the following main features.

• Web charts and graphs from dynamic data
• Live and interactive chart updates without reloading the web page
• Clickable charts, and drill-down
• Animated transitions
• Printable charts
• Simple and flexible chart generation

PHP/SWF Charts is free to download and use. The free, unregistered version contains all the features except for:

1. Clicking a chart takes the user to the PHP/SWF Charts web site
2. No displaying charts inside another flash file
3. No technical support, and no product updates by e-mail

Requirements: Flash Player 6+, Server with PHP Support
Demo: http://www.maani.us/charts/index.php?menu=Gallery
License: License Free

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Sekkyumu gave a little present to everyone on his birthday (23th August). He has released Developpers which is a set of gorgeous 105 icons (32×32) for your toolbar or anything. All the icons are in the format of .png, .ico, icns, .icontainer. They are licensed under Creative Commons, you can use them whatever you want. Let’s say happy birthday and thank you to him! I really love these icons, what do you think?

Requirements: No Requirements
Demo: http://sekkyumu.deviantart.com/art/Developpers-Icons…
License: Creative Commons License

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Another great Addon for Ext Framework again. Ext File Upload Form Widget is to provide an user interface for easy uploading of files to a server.

Files are first added to an “upload queue” and then they are uploaded to the server. Any file can be individually removed from the queue before upload or the whole queue can be cleared.

The result of upload is shown for each file by icons of success or failure and, in the case of failure, the server error message is shown as the tooltip of the failure icon.

Requirements: Ext Framework
Demo: http://aariadne.com/uploadform/
License: LGPL License

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We can use this CSS Compressor made by CSS Drive to compress the CSS to increase loading speed and save on bandwidth as well. You can choose from three levels of compression, depending on how legible you want the compressed CSS to be versus degree of compression. The “Normal” mode should work well in most cases, creating a good balance between the two. It can also strip all of your comments automatically as well. However, I suggest that you keep your original CSS file, it can make your life much easier if you need to edit your CSS file.

Requirements: No Requirements
Demo: http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/csscompressor/
License: License Free

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RichFaces is a rich component library for JavaServer Faces built on an advanced open source framework (Ajax4jsf). It allows easy integration of AJAX capabilities into enterprise-level business application development. RichFaces enriches the Ajax4jsf framework in two important ways. First, it expands the number of visual ready-to-use components. Secondly, it fully implements the skinability feature of the Ajax4jsf framework including a large number of predefined skins. Using skinability, it is much easier to manage the look-and-feel of an application.

This demo Web application showcases the most important functionality available in RichFaces components. For each component or component set selected in the left-hand sidebar, you can see it in action. Also, you can instantly see the effect of predefined skins on the application whole look-and-feel. I really like the “Drag Indicator” one.

Requirements: No Requirements
Demo: http://livedemo.exadel.com/richfaces-demo/
License: LGPL License

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Other than Google Adsense, Banner Ads and Text Link Ads, we have another way to advertise and monetize our website very soon. Youtube has just started video advertising solution, now you can run your own video advertising soon.

For Advertisers, LiveRail is a unique online video advertising platform that lets you promote your business with measurable results and predictable costs, by only paying when someone chooses to watch your ad.

For Publishers, LiveRail can help you distribute your video content online and monetize it without signing away your copyrights. By publishing your video through LiveRail serve your video back exclusively to your own website, covering all your bandwidth costs, along with highly targeted, relevant and unobtrusive advertising, that your viewers only need to watch when it interests them.

Advertisers can see a full list of their active campaigns, with breakdowns on their views, click throughs and spending.

Advertiser’s commercials are encoded in Flash-video format, and include descripions and links to the advertiser’s website. If you want to find out more about how LiveRail works, you can request an invitation and start using the system.

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Thousands of royalty free photos for websites, PowerPoint presentations, newsletters, forums, blogs, schools and homework in FreeDigitalPhotos.net. All images can also be used for artist’s reference, and video productions. All royalty free images may be used for commercial and non commercial work – If you use a free image on a website, you must place a text hyperlink on that website to FreeDigitalPhotos.net. This includes forums, blogs and networking sites such as MySpace. Many images are now available in higher resolution for $5 or $10 (depending on image size). Your photo can be downloaded instantly following secure online payment.

Requirements: Terms of Use
Demo: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
License: License Free

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Democracy Ajax Poll is a WordPress plugin which adds polling functionality to your WordPress blog. It grew out of frustration with the only other WordPress polling option, WP-poll. It didn’t have valid markup, it was clunky, and it required one heck of an installation process.

This plugin uses Ajax for quick sending and loading of poll data, although it doesn’t depend on javascript to function. It is fully functional in non-javascript environments, meaning it will work in ALL browsers. The Ajax part is tested to work in Safari, Opera, Firefox, and IE6/Win.

Democracy Ajax Poll also has a full-featured admin panel, which allows one to manage their polls. You can activate, edit, delete, and add new polls from the admin panel. It uses cookies as well as IP logging to prevent users from working spamming the ballot box. It is good looking and also allows in-post polling. The most important point is that there is no linkback of author on the poll, so it looks like it is really your own poll which is better than PollDaddy polls.

Requirements: WordPress 2.0 or Greater
Demo: http://blog.jalenack.com/archives/democracy
License: GPL License

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I think many people are familiar with PollDaddy which is an online tool, which allows you to create free polls and place them on your website, blog, MySpace, hi5, Friendster or Xanga account or anywhere online.

PollDaddy is simple and flexible, allowing you to customize our styles to match your website or email campaign. Deliver your poll through JavaScript, flash, direct link, widget or RSS to survey your user’s opinions.

It looks really nice as well. You can choose different themes for your polls. The only drawback is that there is a PollDaddy.com link on your polls.

Requirements: No Requirements
Demo: http://www.polldaddy.com
License: License Free

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