fitted.js Plugin for Increased User Interaction

Developing an efficient website is always the target of developers. By increasing the efficiency of the application, they are able to satisfy their users for more traffic which could result to better profits.

Another target of developers is to build a user friendly website. Their users could easily navigate through webpages and interaction is never a problem even though they have just used the website.

But user interaction and efficiency is often a difficult target for developers. They are usually inclined to focus on a single feature of a webpage. As a result, there are websites that are highly efficient but it would take time to learn and there are also websites that are user friendly with lesser functions.

Fortunately, it’s not a dead end scenario. Developers are constantly looking for ways to answer the conceived disparity between user interaction and the website’s efficiency.

For JavaScript and Ajax based applications, one of the simple answers has been created with the use of jQuery. A plug-in called fitted.js is now available for free for all developers. Developed by Trevor Morris, the function of this plug-in is to increase the target area in the header.

The usual header that we see only has smaller links or has a “read more” link. It is only by clicking on the link that users could access the page they are interested to visit directly. But with the help of fitted.js, the experience could be changed.

The entire box could be converted into one big link. This plug-in will enable not only the “read more” link as clickable but the entire box. This will increase accessibility in the header session or any other area of the webpage where a link is required with an introduction.

The plug-in uses jQuery with the additional input from CSS. By using jQuery, the plug-in could be easily integrated to any JavaScript friendly websites and/or applications. Even with frameworks, developers could later integrate the plug-in.

As a plug-in, these are just simple add-ons but with highly efficient results. CSS is used to connect the original data to the link provided in the header. By using CSS, developers could easily expand the function later or even modify it to another target.

Some developers would offer an alternative wherein a simple .gif in the header could do the trick fitted.js does but this prevents the developers to easily change the data added in the header. By using a picture, developers could just use a shortcut but it will never provide additional functions.

This plug-in for jQuery is relatively new but it proves that jQuery as a framework for an Ajax based application is highly efficient as different developers could just come up with a plug-in that will increase the interactivity of a website.

Developers have to be creative in looking for answer to different problems and this would often lead to the development of a highly efficient function. Fitted.js is just one of the many plug-ins developed with jQuery that could be added in the application. Certainly, more things are coming from developers everywhere as they continue to interact with jQuery.