The Spry 1.4 framework for Ajax is a JavaScript library that provides web designers with the ability to build web pages that offer richer experiences to their site visitors. With Spry, you can use HTML code, CSS code, and a minimal amount of JavaScript to incorporate XML data into your HTML documents, create widgets such as accordions and menu bars, and add different kinds of effects to various page elements. The Spry framework is designed so that the code is simple and easy to use for those who have basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The Spry framework is meant primarily for users who are web design professionals or advanced nonprofessional web designers. It is not intended as a full web application framework for enterprise-level web development (though it can be used in conjunction with other enterprise-level pages).

The Spry 1.4 framework provides three large components that you can create dynamic pages with: widgets, XML data sets, and effects. Widgets are page elements, such as accordions and tabbed panels, that make your page more interesting and interactive; XML data sets let you display data from an XML data source on your web page, much as a traditional web application lets you display data from a database; and Spry effects, such as Fade and Squish, let you improve your user’s experience by adding motion to the page. You can display XML data inside a widget and add effects to widgets to create much richer pages than static HTML allows. The sections that follow provide more information on how to use widgets, data sets, and effects individually.

For examples of how to use the Spry framework, including examples that combine the use of widgets, data sets, and effects, visit the Spry framework home page on Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/. This page also includes the latest updates for Spry.