Yahoo! Design Patterns and User Interface Libraries

Yahoo! has released two libraries – Yahoo! User Interface Library and Yahoo! Design Patterns Library to open source.

Yahoo! User Interface Library

First there’s Yahoo! User Interface Library. The UI Library is a set of JavaScripts components that let you quickly add all kinds of really nifty features to your web site, from dynamic UI elements like drag and drop, tree views, and animation; to underlying functionality like custom events and easy-to-use cross-browser XMLHttpRequest connections. Its a small easy-to-use framework for building AJAX applications. And get this: Its free to use and its open source (BSD license). Better than flowers any day.

This means that we can now include these off-these-shelf components and speed up development of richer web applications. And since it is released on BSD License you can modify it as per your need and use it. There are various utilities and UI controls available, and there is no stopping you from developing new UI controls. It also complies with Yahoo!’s Graded Browser Support which provides graceful degradation for browsers that don’t support JavaScript or AJAX.

Yahoo! Design Patterns Library

Code is cool, but howabout some advice, too. We’ve also got the Yahoo! Design Patterns Library, where our best visual and interaction designers have gotten together and created a set of patterns and guidelines for design in a Web 2.0 world. Here you’ll find ideas on the best ways to implement web site elements, along with pointers to examples and the tools within the Yahoo! UI Library that will let you do it. Today’s Pattern Library is just the beginning — expect this part of the site to grow quite a lot over the coming months.

A pattern is defined by Yahoo! as an optimal solution to a common problem within a specific context. Because they are commonly used, the patterns are repeatable and if the solutions are ready, they can save lot of time of design and development. This library contains patterns like auto-complete, breadcrumbs, drag and drop modules, object pagination and many more.

This library is released under Creative Commons License. You can modify it and even add your own modules to the library.

Both these libraries together provide help to build Web 2.0 websites for users craving for richer functionalities, but still complying with the accessibility and web standards. You can find more information about them on the Yahoo! UI blog, especially the posts Yahoo! UI Library and Yahoo! Design Patterns Library. You can also subscribe to the Yahoo! Developer Network mailing list for further involvement.

Copyright Abhijit Nadgouda.