Max Kiesler – Designer

Search boxes and results seem to be a natural extension of the capabilities inherent to AJAX. If your blog is running Movable Type (MT), I found a great example of how to implement an inline search using AJAX, complete with a progress bar and same page search results.

Jeff Watkins wrote a great AJAX web app to display your search box, and results in a hidden div which slides down when you hit the search button at the top of the page. I found this to be a very good use of in-page AJAX. The reader doesn’t have to go to another page to see the search results and they see the progress bar which gives them an indication that the search is taking place. Additionally, having the search box hidden at the page leaves more room for at the top of the page for other critical navigational elements. Well done!