Table of Contents; Preface; Assumptions This Book Makes; Contents of This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; We'd Like to Hear from You; Safari® Enabled; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Who This Book Is For; What Ajax Is; The Traditional Model; The Ajax Model; It's Actually Pretty Easy; The Eras of Web Development; History of Ajax; Ajax: Neither Asynchronous nor XML. Discuss.; What Rails Is; Rails Mantras; 'You Got Your Ajax in My Rails!'; Getting Up to Speed; Starting Ruby; Getting on the Rails; Other Things You'll Want; Hello, Rails; Rails Writ Large; Summary.
Getting Our Feet WetThe Old-Fashioned Way; Starting a Project; JavaScript Libraries and Prototype; Bringing Rails into the Picture; ERb Basics; Layouts; Partials; Helpers; Back to Ajax; Summary; Introducing Prototype; Setting the Stage; Ajax Links; Callbacks; Other Options; Linking to an arbitrary function; Forms; Form Tag Helpers; Form Helpers; Using form_for; Ajax Forms; Using remote_form_for; Buttons; Buttons for Arbitrary Functions; Custom Helpers; Form Observers; Observing an Entire Form; Summary; Introducing script.aculo.us; Visual Effects; Toggling; Options; Queues; Callbacks.
TransitionsVisual Effect Helper; Drag and Drop; Draggables; Draggable options; Droppables; Droppable options; Droppables with Ajax; Sortables; Ajax-enabled sortables; Summary; RJS; Instructions Instead of Data; Putting the R in RJS; Diving In; Rendering JavaScript Without RJS; RJS: Generating JavaScript with Ruby; Using .rjs files; Testing and debugging RJS; Element Proxies; Custom methods with element proxies; Updating content with element proxies; Collection Proxies; each; invoke; pluck; collect/map; detect/find; select/find_all; reject; partition; min and max; all and any; inject; zip.
Sort_byJavaScriptGenerator Methods; Manipulating DOM elements; Inserting content; Redirecting; Delaying execution; Creating drag-and-drop elements; Generating arbitrary JavaScript; Class proxies; RJS Helpers; RJS Without Ajax; A Real-World Example; The Old Way; The RJS Way; Summary; Ajax Usability; Principles of Usability; Personal Assistant: Defending Attention; Tour Guide: Manage Expectations; User models and program models; Example: Windows versus Mac program models; Set accurate expectations; Mentor: Design Not Just for Usability, but Learnability; Teach with affordances.
Trainer: Provide Immediate FeedbackDirect manipulation; Work with the mind; Use color appropriately; The Context of the Web; HTTP; The Page; Usability on the Web; Know When to Use Ajax-and When Not To; Don't break the back button; Don't use Ajax for navigation; Keep Page Elements Consistent; Key Commands; Increasing Responsiveness with Ajax ('It's Too Slow!'); Consequences of Increased Responsiveness ('It's Too Fast!'); Blank Slates, Coach Content, and Help Nuggets; Blank slates; Coach content; Help nuggets; Cross-Platform Development; Realities of Platforms; What makes a platform.
