I had the pleasure of speaking to Nathanael DeJager’s Digital Media Technologies JavaScript class this past week. The topic of my presentation was Web 2.0 and I promised them to post my notes and links to the sites I discussed. So I thought I would share them with everyone!

My notes for the presentation were created using Eric Meyer’s Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System (S5). It’s a very cool web-standards/JavaScript based presentation format the beats the heck out of PowerPoint for simple presentations.

One of the first sites I showed as an early example of Web 2.0, was the del.icio.us public bookmarking system and we discussed the manner in which it creates networks of people who share similar interests, and the neural network that it creates. I pointed them to some of the tags I watch, like http://del.icio.us/tag/javascript, http://del.icio.us/tag/ruby+rails, and of course my own http://del.icio.us/rutherfj.

Some other examples of Web 2.0 sites we checked out were:

• Photo sharing at flickr.com
• Email at gmail.com
• RSS Aggregation at bloglines.com
• Mapping at maps.google.com
• Examples of well designed and usable sites at backpackit.com, writeboard.com, basecamphq.com
• Customization examples at start.com and Google
• And the new social browserflock.com

We discussed some new enhancements to the JavaScripting language called ECMAscript for XML that promises to make DOM manipulation simpler. At the same time I talked about using pre-existing libraries for DOM manipulation, widgets and effects like:

• Prototype
• script.aculo.us
• Sarissa
• MochiKit

I showed them a great bookmarklet for debugging DOM and CSS related issues called the Mouse Over DOM Inspector and also showed them a similar tool for Firefox called the Aardvark extension.

We talked about how many Web 2.0 companies are offering API’s to access their data like those at Flickr, Google Maps and del.icio.us.

We looked at how these API’s could be used to create mashups like:

• ColorPickr
• del.icio.us Director
• Hot or Not with Google Maps
• Ning
• Seattle 911

Finally I showed an example that used the Google Maps API and Geocoder.ca API to plot a marker on a Google Map. You can download those files (requires a web server with PHP).

AJAX: How to Handle Bookmarks and Back Buttons
is an article from O’Reilly.com that presents an open-source Javascript library to handle this complex AJAX issue. The article explains the significant issues that AJAX applications currently face with bookmarks and the back button and provides several working examples.

moo.fx is a new and lightweight (3k) JavaScript library for performing simple effects on your webpages. Built on top of the prototype.js, it is cross-browser/plaform compatible.

I’m giving a presentation next week to a group of non-technical internet users about RSS and feed aggregation. I’m planning on showing them a couple of web based readers (Google Reader and Bloglines) as well as a couple of commercial apps (NetNewsWire and Feed Demon), but I’d also like to show them a couple of good freeware standalone readers. Does anybody know of any good ones for either Mac or PC? Thanks in advance for your help!

It looks like Google is about ready to launch Google Base. In fact the site was up earlier, but was soon taken down. You can find a screenshot on Flickr. The text on the screenshot reads:

Post your items on Google.

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.

Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.

It appears to be an interesting application, but I worry about the amount of personal data that Google has access to. For example, they have all my emails (gMail) and my Blog reading list (Google Reader), they are storing my search history, and now I can store any type of structured data for me! Keep in mind, that I have allowed Google to do this, so I’m not complaining about them, but it is food for thought - How much data do we want them to store for us?

MySQL 5.0 has just been released. Heralded as the world’s most popular open source database, this new version support some compelling reasons for upgrading:

• Stored Procedures
• Triggers
• Views
• Data Dictionary

As you may have already noticed, I have just redesigned this blog. I was never entirely happy with the last redesign, so decided to freshen up the site with a new look. I hope you enjoy it!

I have also switched from Textpattern to WordPress. I was very happy using Textpattern, and it is an excellent content management system suitable for blogs. There are lots of really cool features and an excellent community of dedicated users. The reason for the switch is that in my day job, I create and maintain content management systems, so I figured it would be a great idea to familiarize myself with and learn a different CMS.

One of the greatest benefits of working with open-source content management systems, is that you can learn alot by looking at the architecture and source-code of others. It becomes a great source of inspiration in working on my own projects.

Wow – Check out this super fantastic totally awesome DHTML Colour Picker. It comes in 5 different versions:

• Dashboard Widget
• Konfabulator Widget
• DHTML component that you can add to your web app (free)
• Unbranded (does not contain their logo) DHTML component that you can add to your web app ($15)
• Personalized (with your brand and logo) DHTML component that you can add to your web app ($50)

With Web 2.0 being all the buzz right now, and startups popping up faster than most can keep track of, many of you may be thinking of joining one of these new web firms. Before you do, it might be time to consider the Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup that are offered by Venture Capitalist David Beisel.

Digital Web Magazine offers an article by Jonathan Snook that introduces the concept of Variable Scope for New Programmers. Understanding variable scope is essential in today’s Web 2.0 environment, where DOM manipulation scripts can get large and memory expensive.