This article shows how existing web pages can be tweaked to request data via AJAX, by using jQuery, a JavaScript library, which involves minimal changes to existing code.

Learn the tips, techniques, and pitfalls when developing Web 2.0 and Dojo applications. Wendi Nusbickel and Melissa Betancourt have worked on the Dojo application documented in this article for over a year. Having recently completed the development of a Web 2.0 Dojo prototype, they share the experience they gained when creating a custom Dojo application.

In this article, we’ll create a basic business-oriented application that can serve as a starting point for digging deeper into the existing options—and let you experience how much fun coding quality JavaScript can be.

Node.js is a server-side JavaScript environment that uses an asynchronous event-driven model. It is based on Google's V8 JavaScript engine plus several built-in libraries. The excitement around Node.js is that the barriers to entry are remarkably low; if you know JavaScript, you're well on your way to writing code on the server side. Real-world examples are easy to find. Numerous organizations, such as Twitter, WordPress and Facebook—just to name a few—have already embraced Node.js.

his article focuses on how you can give something back to this great community, by writing your own plug-in and checking it into the plug-in pages hosted by jQuery.

The jQuery UI package aims to create a well-defined and reliable set of user interface widgets that you can reuse within your own Web applications. The goal is to provide well-tested widgets that go beyond those available in HTML Input elements, and ease the work of all user interface developers.

This second article in the jQuery series looks at how to add more interaction to any Web site to create a dynamic Rich Internet Application. Learn how jQuery utilizes a combination of events produced by user interaction, information gathered from the Web site itself, and the ability to change the look and feel of the application without reloading to create these RIAs quickly and easily.

The popularity of jQuery owes a lot to its decision to include a plug-in architecture. This decision allows any number of third-party developers to create and extend the jQuery functions beyond the original library functions. The result is hundreds of plug-ins that provide nearly any type of function needed on a Web application. This article describes this plug-in architecture and explains how jQuery can help your Web application behave just like a desktop application.

jQuery is emerging as the JavaScript library of choice for developers looking to ease their creation of dynamic Rich Internet Applications. As browser-based applications continue to replace desktop applications, the use of these libraries will only continue to grow. Get to know jQuery in this series of articles and learn how you can implement it in your own Web application projects.

Ext JS is an advanced JavaScript framework that not only supports and simplifies the foundations of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) development, but also maintains a large toolkit of reusable UI components. In this article, get a tour of the new features and updates to this framework, which currently stands at version 3.1.