Regular Expressions is a powerful tool when parsing and validating strings. And combining regular expressions with the simplicity of jQuery selectors can create some fast and useful string parsers. This post will show you a couple of really useful parsers that you can use in various environments, or as a base to create your own.

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Some people have asked me about the comment preview functionality that DevKick is using in the blog, so I made it into a handy jQuery plugin called Modalpreview.

I got the idea when was looking for a quick way of adding a preview function to the comment form here on DevKick. I wanted something new and did not want to go server-side. I never liked the live preview thing, mainly because I don’t like when stuff happens on the page automatically when I press a key. So I thought, why not just use a modal window to present the textarea as HTML before submitting the form?

That would prove to be a lot harder than it sounds like.

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A menu with a visual active state is a popular technique on web sites for obvious reasons:

1. It gives the user a clear signal of where he/she is on the site, especially for visitors coming from a search engine or deep link
2. It can be attractive and signal a well-structured and balanced site
3. Used carefully, it can replace the classic breadcrumb trail.

This article aim to explain how some popular techniques are used to achieve an active state, including a digestion of our latest laboratory project called :path. I will also show you some simple examples of different visual approaches, including some very popular sites that doesn’t use active states at all.

Is active states on navigation anchors crucial? Should you always use them or are there cases when it is not such a good idea? Use the comments form to discuss the topic.

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jQuery is great in many ways. You probably first heard about the framework when browsing through a showcase of beautiful “ajax” scripts and became impressed with how easy it can be used to create advanced and delightful effects. But jQuery is much more than that. After you’ve seen all the fancy slides and animations and got to know the framework, you realize that it can do much more to assist you in building advanced, content-driven web sites and applications.

Here is a hand-picked list of useful jQuery scripts and utilities, created to make your web development easier. You won’t find any fancy slides or animations in here, instead I have compiled a list of the best, most well-written and useful jQuery components on the web that I would use myself.
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