The Top 40 Free Ajax & Javascript Code for Web Designers

Ajax has becoming very popular recently, but most designers seem to rehash the same script over and over (you’ll see it in a lot of Wordpress Themes and Plugins). Perhaps we aren’t using ajax technology to its full potential, myself included. The list below is made up of the best FREE scripts available, they are all of the highest quality and more or less easy to configure. Give them a try.
I have tried and tested the top 22, and aim to try the rest, because to be honest they look pretty cool.

1. Lightbox 2 (http://www.huddletogether.com)

Description:Lightbox is a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It’s a snap to setup and works on all modern browsers.
Technology:Lightbox 2 uses the Prototype Framework and Scriptaculous Effects Library.

2.Timeline (http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/)

Description:Timeline is a widget for visualizing time-based events. It is like Google Maps for time-based information.
Technology:Ajax and DHTML.

3. Reflection.js (http://cow.neondragon.net)

Description:Reflection.js allows you to add reflections to images on your webpages. It works in all the major browsers - Internet Explorer 5.5+, Mozilla Firefox 1.5+, Opera 9+ and Safari. On older browsers, it’ll degrade and your visitors won’t notice a thing. Best of all, it’s under 5KB.
Technology:Javascript.

4. Pie & Donut Chart (http://www.amcharts.com/pie/)

Description:Pie & Donut (doughnut) is a very universal and fully configurable Flash chart. Using it, you can easily have good-looking, animated pies or donuts on your website. You can also use it for creating elaborate navigation menus.
Technology:Flash.

5. Plotr (http://solutoire.com/plotr/)

Description:Plotr is a lightweight chart creating framework. It’s released under the BSD license.
Technology:Mochikit.

6. Ajax Instant Messenger (http://www.ajaxim.com/)

Description:Ajax im is a browser-based instant messaging client. It can be used in conjunction with community, intranet, and social websites. No refreshing of the page is ever needed for this “web application” to work.
Technology:Ajax and Javascript.

7. Starbox (http://www.nickstakenburg.com/projects/starbox/)

Description:Starbox allows you to easily create all kinds of rating boxes using just one PNG image.
Technology:Prototype javascript framework.

8. Ajax Tabs Content (http://www.dynamicdrive.com/)

Description: This is a versatile script that lets you display content pulled from external files inside a DIV and organized via CSS tabs. A fully unobtrusive, CSS and HTML based script.
Technology:Ajax.

9. Drag and Drop Shopping (http://demo.script.aculo.us/shop)

Description: An excellent drag and drop shopping cart.
Technology:Ajax.

10. Progress Bar (http://www.webappers.com/progressBar/)

Description: A very stylish progress bar.
Technology:Ajax.

11. Thick Box (http://jquery.com/demo/thickbox/)

Description: ThickBox is a webpage UI dialog widget written in JavaScript on top of the jQuery library. Its function is to show a single image, multiple images, inline content, iframed content, or content served through AJAX in a hybrid modal.
Technology:Javascript.

12. Create Flickr Like Fields (http://dbachrach.com)

Description: The name says it all. Technology:Ajax.

13. jTip – A jQuery Tool Tip (http://codylindley.com)

Description: jTip, not unlike Thickbox, pulls data from the server using a hidden http request. It’s nothing that fancy…
Technology:Ajax.

14.Accordian (http://demos.mootools.net/Accordion)

Description: A smooth and stylish ‘accordian’ effect menu.
Technology:Moo Tools Javascript Framework.

15. Unobtrusive AJAX Star Rating Bar (http://www.masugadesign.com)

Description:This is a rating bar script done with PHP and mySQL that allows users to rate things like can be done on Netflix or Amazon, all web 2.0-like with no page refresh.
Technology:PHP.

And the rest…

16. Plotkit (Javascript Chart Plotting Script).
17. Pie (Create ajax pie charts).
18. Prototip (Prototip allows you to easily create both simple and complex tooltips using the Prototype javascript framework).
19. Ajax Inline Text Edit (This is a very simple script which only works with span tags).
20. Tabbed Content Browser (An Ajax powered tabbed content browser).
21. Table Sorting Script (An unobtrusive ajax Table Sorting Script).
22. Color Sphere (DHTML Color Picker).
23. Mapper.js (Thisallows you to add automatic area highlighting to image maps on your webpages (inc. export to SVG)).
24. Live Validation (LiveValidation is a small open source javascript library built for giving users real-time validation information).
25. Draggable Content (Javascript drag and drop).
26. Carousel (A Carousel Effect Image gallery).
27. Multibox (A javascript lightbox that supports images, flash, video, mp3s…).
28. Smooth Gallery (Using mootools v1.11, this javascript gallery and slideshow system allows you to have simple and smooth (cross-fading…) image galleries, slideshows, showcases and other cool stuff on your website…).
29. Form Style Generator
30. Auto Complete (A MooTools Autocompleter widget that creates a unobtrusive and customisable suggestion box for input fields from variable data sources).
31. Active Collab (An open Source Project Management Script).
32. Greybox (A small unobtusive pop up script).
33. Ajax Poller.
34. Tablekit (TableKit is a collection of HTML table enhancements using the Prototype framework).
35. J-query Shoutbox (This script is based on jQuery library and Form plugin.
It’s very easy to setup it, also an archive is available for download so you can play with the files on your localhost).
36. Ajax RSS Ticker.
37. Highslide (It streamlines the use of thumbnail images and HTML popups on web pages).
38. Slideshow Viewer (Stylish gallery script with a ‘lightbox’ effect).
39. Mocha (Mocha is a web applications user interface library built on the Mootools javascript framework. The Mocha GUI components are made with canvas tag graphics).
40. Loading XML into a page with xmlHttpRequest.

58 Comments so far

1. David Jacques-Louis on February 10, 2008 4:04 pm

   Damn, if this is not the best post I’ve read for long time. Great site.

2. admin on February 11, 2008 2:04 am

   Thanks for that David. Speckyboy.

3. David Sparks on February 11, 2008 8:05 am

   Lightbox is great but it’s old news. Anybody that likes that affect should be using the “backbox” it works the same but better. you can click on any “blacked” out area to go back to the page. not just the little x. it’s also been trimmed down so helps with load times and accessibility etc.

4. anglictina on February 11, 2008 9:23 am

   NIce set, thankx

5. Ben on February 11, 2008 9:56 am

   Well I’ve just released the latest version of Flickrshow, (6) and the previous version was pulling a good 40,000 requests a day. Thats pretty popular.

   http://www.flickrshow.com

6. Binny V A on February 11, 2008 10:14 am

   I can’t understand why you have ActiveCollab in the list - its a PHP app.

   Some other links…
   jx - JavaScript Ajax Library
   AHAH(Asynchronous HTML over HTTP)

7. Amber-Lee on February 11, 2008 5:15 pm

   As a web developer, this is a great list of AJAX code. I have used both lightbox and reflection to create some really great effects.

8. Sean O on February 11, 2008 8:21 pm

   Looks like you drag & dropped the description fields for #9 & #10 :)

   Good list, but I have to chime in with my own “wattabout?”. You forgot the greatest slideshow script ever: Mike Alsup’s Cycle plugin for jQuery. http://www.malsup.com/jquery/cycle/

9. admin on February 12, 2008 10:59 am

   I did indeed. Thanks for the heads up,Sean.

10. alex on February 28, 2008 11:01 am

    pretty good list, nice articles out there
    stumbled 5*****

11. AmeyJah on March 6, 2008 5:33 am

    Don’t forget instantsearchdomain.com, it’s really good ajax application. And thanks for the Draggable Content script link, I came here while searching for this script.
    Thanks a lot, good information.

12. Ryan on March 11, 2008 4:15 am

    thanks for the list:) thumbs up! its gonna take a while to go through that list

13. Utah Joe on March 20, 2008 11:15 am

    Great post…opens my mind to lots of new possibilities!

14. dirka on April 20, 2008 11:26 pm

    tenks

15. wsdcent on June 30, 2008 12:09 am

    Nice ajax sripts, i spetially enjoy the Reflection.js project

16. dıs cephe on July 9, 2008 8:07 am

    thanks..

17. Fox on July 15, 2008 9:53 pm

    thanks a lot

18. Yacine.benz on July 25, 2008 10:43 pm

    Great Thanks.

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