Vision Jinx's AJAX Playground

Vision Jinx's AJAX Playground

Welcome to Vision Jinx's AJAX Pages API (Beta Version). I, like many others, have been looking for cool ways to do things with Google Pages, but often find working with it quite frustrating at times due to limitations and restrictions with its HTML editor. I find it has a bad tendency to reformat and break code when trying to use it beyond the basics, and that was the inspiration for this script, plus after seeing all the feature request posts in the groups I wanted to see just what could all be done.

I really wanted a way to still use Google Pages, but not have it keep messing with my code, while still providing an easy, versatile and cool way to develop and add dynamic functionality to my website. Hmmm.

In my AJAX API tutorials I will show you the different cool things you can do with AJAX and Google Pages. I will provide the current script and features module plus a CSS style sheet to download and use on your website also. I also included a sample "ajax_links" page to help you get started with the links and features syntax. You will probably find it quite easy to pick up and be adding AJAX to your Google Pages site in minutes! You will need to have a quick read through the Features Modules and the main AJAX API to set any user preferences for the scripts (Like loading your own favicon.ico in to Google Pages) and to help give you the best developing experience you can get with a FREE service.

Quick AJAX Features Module Overview

This was originally a little side project I started but it seems to have come along not too badly as there was quite an update I made recently on the additional features I have just added. If you had the original version you may want to get the updated script so you can take advantage of the NEW following features:

• Dynamic AJAX Tabs - Just as easily as you fetch a page with the main AJAX script, you can now have it display the results in a popular tabbed format for a very clean, compact and eloquent looking design.
• Random Quotes Module - Just as the name says, load it up with all your favorite quotes, links and sayings and it will randomly rotate through them. When you load the AJAX features on this page look at the bottom for mine! :-)
• Video Lounge Function - This simple module has all sorts of potential with the right imagination. I just provided a basic example of using a link to add a video into your page using YouTube Videos, which is it's default setting. There are 2 versions of this included. You can combine it with the Dynamic Tabs module to create "themed" video topics or what ever you can imagine. Very useful for those who have videos on YouTube and want to further promote them.
• Simple Quick Tips Module - This is a very neat little module for adding all sorts of little news and even updates or anything you want to show someone who can read then click it to dismiss it (remove it). I have it set to display a message in the top left of the screen when clicked it will go away. You can click the updates link to see it in action.
• Quick Post to Blogger - Yup! I have added a sweet little blogger form. You can now add a quick post to Blogger feature on your Website. When you are logged into your Google/Blogger account the form takes you right to your Blogger editor screen where you can upload images or further edit your post, save as a draft or publish to the Web. If you are not logged in you will be redirected to the Google/Blogger login page. This feature is not for long blog posts, but a quick "I seen something neat" and post type thing, or start an idea to finish later. I also have a Google Gadget version of this, but I have not yet released it. Should be soon! (Check my Google Gadgets Playground for it)
  
• Quick AJAX ID/Login Form - This was a feature not originally intended for the Google Pages version of this script, but I decided there is still a lot of cool things you can do with it like use it with your site as a quick find by ID, or with Google Docs and Spreadsheet or even YouTube Video. The main let down is Google Pages does not support folders, and it also generates a file that displays all the files on your site, so because of this there is no real way to really provide security since it's already freely available. But this function still has lots of fun uses with Google Pages some mentioned above and others in the tutorials.
• Sidebar Toggle Function - I have seen this requested so many times, so I decided to try to include it with the script as well. Now you can add content to the sides of your Google Pages site. You can already do it with the main AJAX script (and CSS) or also with the AJAX Tips feature, but what makes this a bit different is it will try to detect the width of the screen and determine if there is enough width to display the extra content. If the screen is wide enough, you should see your stuff on the sides. The feature loads to the right when you click the Load AJAX Features button at the top of this site.
• What time is it? - The problem with AJAX and this script and dynamic Websites if they are Fun and it is easy to loose track of time, and I know I had from time to time when developing this script. So I decided to post the time right on the page so I could keep better track of the time when watching videos while playing with other features. I normally would not have included it, but it's these simple type of things I keep getting asked why I leave out, so I left this one in. This is a 24hr clock only.
• Common Functions Module - This is a module I made for all them KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) functions I like to use for the simple everyday tasks, and I wanted to include them as I plan on using them in other modules to come. You can also add some of your own function in there too as a place to keep them if you want to include some of your own scripts with this API. A quick run down on some I have put in so far are a couple easy display/hide features, some functions for helping you protect your email address from spambots and other email harvester programs that scan webpages for emails address. I have include the often requested Send me an Email and Send this link/page to a friend. Now they are just a click away. There is also a Pop-Up feature for opening your pages in a pop-up window.

Don't delay click the Load AJAX Features button and check out this script in action. Note to users of this script, you can have it load automatically, but I did not as I wanted to help show what gets loaded and is available when it is run for the first time. I hope you like it and happy developing! :-)

Some things to know about AJAX

Unfortunately, there are some restrictions that you should be aware of with AJAX so that you can get the best results from this script (like you can only fetch pages from your domain and can't load scripts from a fetched page). Please make sure to initially read the entire tutorial as this will help explain some things you should be aware of when working with AJAX and also help get you familiar with whats all included in it.

Vision Jinx's Google Gadget Directory

I have recently started a Google Gadget Directory. If you have a cool Google Gadget that you finished and tested, then please feel free to submit a Google Gadget Inclusion Request (the form can be found on the site). But please make sure to test your gadgets as only quality and unique gadgets will be included. And for everyone else, you can find some cool Google Gadgets here also.

Vision Jinx's Google Gadget Playground

I have another development playground and this one is for some Google Gadgets that I have been working on. You can always find them on my main Website at www.visionjinx.net but this is more for Google Gadgets and all sorts of cool things you can do with them and Google Pages. So don't forget to also check out my Google Gadget Playground. I will be further developing that site to show you a more practical use for this script where this site is more of a features demo and tutorials site.