[...]... or Loser? Rich Internet Applications Are Browser Centric Rich Internet Applications Are Network Centric Rich Internet Applications Are Mind-Altering Observations from a Developer’s Altered Mind Some Observations from Our Altered Minds Rich Internet Applications Are Software as Service Rich Internet Applications Are User Centered Rich Internet Applications Are Inherently Collaborative Rich Internet Applications:... Applications: The Web Is Disruptive (Finally) Rich Internet Applications Are Invisible Invisibility of Google Focusing Your RIAs Rich Internet Applications Break Down Walled Gardens Rich Internet Applications Create New (Unwalled?) Gardens Constraints in the Unwalled Garden Understanding the Counter-Manifesto Rich Internet Applications Are Always Up-to-Date Rich Internet Applications Are OS Killers Web... begins to wane, a new ecology of Rich Internet Applications is emerging to bring both developers and end users new benefits that take full advantage of today’s connected world Developers who take advantage of this new ecology will prosper and stay at the front of their professional ranks Learning the technical approaches from this book, and understanding how and why Rich Internet Applications are different,... eyes, gentle wisdom, and wonderful laugh And for my four parents, who taught me all the important things I know in life —EB Contents Acknowledgments Introduction ix xxi Part I: An Introduction to RIAs 1 Chapter 1: What Characterizes Rich Internet Applications? 3 Rich Internet Applications are “Plastic” An Example of Plastic (Dynamic) Web Pages How Style Sheets Create a Better Page Rich Internet Applications:... Validation Functions and Flags 525 Basic Dojo Validation Functions and Flags Dojo Internet Validation Functions and Flags Locale-Specific Validation Functions in Dojo 525 529 531 Index 533 xix Introduction And now for something completely different —Monty Python Tagline This introduction orients you to the rest of the book and takes you for a brief tour of its primary subject, Rich Internet Application... families, and significant others for their forbearance Writing is a solitary activity that tends to exclude others, even those most important to us; and we appreciate all their support, and promise somehow to make up for the lost time and opportunities For Jane, who “walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her... effects to events and actions on a RIAPage Code examples are provided for several scenarios in which special effects are useful, including dynamic user notifications and full-screen previews ❑ Chapter 14 looks at the concepts of tagging and rating in detail It explains what tagging and rating are and shows why the capabilities are being incorporated in many new RIAs and other Web applications, and why they... you understand this book is dedicated to providing you with insightful examples and a good fundamental understanding of the available APIs You should expect a lot of exploration of the important features of Rich Internet Applications Finally, you will gain expertise and confidence from usable sample source code that functions as both interesting application and instructive example We hope — and endeavor... networks-centric applications, the first exemplified by DashboardWidgets on Mac OS/X and Google Desktop Widgets on Windows, and Yahoo Widgets on both platforms Widgets are rather like applications, each hosted in its own mini-browser environment While such applications often have the same characteristics of native desktop applications, they are arguably easier to design and construct, built of HTML, stylesheets, and. .. the background you need to develop Rich Internet Applications You learn what distinguishes Rich Internet Applications and how they work, you get a refresher on Web application concepts, and you get your feet wet by implementing a simple Hello World example RIA Finally, you learn some tips for enhancing your productivity through an exploration of some common approaches and tools for JavaScript debugging