Chroma-Hash is a jQuery plugin that aims to offer a better password input experience.

The Problem:

A standard password field replaces the entered characters with "●" characters. The problem is "we never know if we made a typo or not until the form is submitted & a reply is received from the server".

The Solution:

Chroma-Hash, "converts the values entered" into a colored visualization.

A user filling the password field can easily recognize that if the colors are the usual equivalents of the password or not. And, anyone who sees the colors won't have any idea what the actual password is.

The script can also be used to visualize password confirmations (password & confirm password fields).

P.S. A detailed info on the method & security concerns can be found at the developer's related post.

Validatious is an unobtrusive & easy to use JavaScript form validation library that does not depend on any JS frameworks.

It has built-in validators like numeric, e-mail, URL, max/min char, etc. & custom ones can be created.

Using the library, it is possible to create chained validation rules like: validate( "email".is("required").andIsAn("email") );.

How and when Validatious does validation, how it displays errors & more can be controlled.

The library supports multilingual error messages with the help of a language file or overriding pre-built ones.

Gaya Design is featuring a very nice tutorial (with source) on creating an image slider with a progress bar.

The slider uses the powerful jQuery Cycle plugin (see WRD post) which can rotate images with various effects.

The progress bar is created automatically to reflect the number of images that wi,ll be displayed.

Besides the look & feel of the slider, variables like speed of the slideshow & transitions can be set too.

Here are several examples provided to better findout how it functions.

Flash is a highly creative medium & ActionScript 3 is a powerful language.

On the other hand, it is mostly hard to speed up when working with Flash as AS3 can be quite time-consuming & there are things to do (planning & setup of Flash movies) before you can actually get anything done.

This is where HYPE comes in.

HYPE is a creative coding framework built on top of ActionScript 3 which aims to enable Flash developers of every level to creatively play & express themselves.

The framework is extendible as it is possible to write new classes & improve it.

There are lots of examples provided at the HYPE website which are worth checking out.

Thematic maps are very useful when describing statistical data about places. The data, simply, becomes much easier to understand.

Cartographer is a JavaScript library for creating thematic maps on Google Maps which supports custom styling.

It is only a one JavaScript file that relies on the powerful Raphael.js vector-graphics library.

It supports 3 visualizing types:

• Chloropleth (color coded regions)
• Pie charts
• Point clusters

The areas on maps are mentioned as latitudes or regions (depending on the type) which means no hacking or manual calculations.

Every visualization type comes with different options like colors, opacity, stroke & more.

P.S. The library is currently on alpha state but pretty solid.

Photo Booth is a tiny open source Flash application that can capture images from a webcam.

The script is built with AS3 + PHP5 and can be instantly implemented to any website.

It can be a great add-on when asking users to upload an avatar or creating a web application around photos.

To see how it works, a demo can be found here.

Map Icons Collection is a set of 600+ free placemark icons that can be used to mention almost anything on maps with style.

The set is categorized very well in the project's wiki pages like restaurants, culture, sports & much more.

Sizes of the icons are mostly 27*27px or 32*37px and they are all transparent PNG format.

Floom is a MooTools slideshow plugin that can present images & their captions beautifully.

It displays them with a blind-effect & a chic loader that shows when the next image will be shown.

The plugin has various options like:

• defining the number of blinds between transitions
• slideshow interval
• loader on/off
• captions on/off

To mention, Floom is not a complicated script, rather, it is a lightweight (4kb compressed) one with very few features (just auto-slides images) which is sometimes "what is needed".

P.S. The download link in the website, currently, has a typo. You can use this address until it is fixed.

Calender Eightysix is an unobtrusive calendar & datepicker that is built with MooTools.

It offers a very easy-to-use navigation for jumping back / forth between months, years & decades without drop-down boxes.

The script is lightweight (9.5kb) & can be themed via CSS (3 themes are already included).

It has a bunch of options for maximum customization like setting:

• default date on load
• min-max dates of the calendar
• date format
• unpickable days/weeks
• durations between slides, fades, toggles
• the calendar start date (Monday – Sunday)
• & more..

P.S. It is also the successor of the popular Vista-like Ajax Calendar (WRD post).

In order to better understand this resource, let’s describe augmented reality first. From Wikipedia:

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality

EZFlar is an open source ActionScript library that enables you to create such a media. Or, you can use the online generator.

How it works?

It simply inserts a pre-defined media inside a "pre-defined object" in another media.

There is an online generator provided. You’ll need a webcam & a printer to test it instantly:

• Select the media to be integrated (image, video, sound, URL, etc.)
• Print a special shape provided
• Display the printed sheet while the application records you through your webcam
• It will insert the "selected media" to the place where you hold the sheet.

It may look complicated, however, you can check this video or this one to see it working.