The use of scripting languages to add new functionality to systems is something that I’ve always found very helpful. You don’t have to download the source code of the system, if it has “scriptable” parts you can add simple functionality in minutes without even compiling. Java provides this capabilities in particular with Javascript. You can refer to http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/Desktop/scripting/ for more information on this.
Unfortunately, Java 6′s only included library is Rhino that converts the javascript …
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A recent Slashdot poster asked for Solr-powered “Attractive Open Source Search Interfaces”. First, for some inspiration on what you might want to have in a search user interface, check out Peter Morville’s excellent set of screenshot examples. One of my favorite examples is, of course, from the library space. Morville showcases the NCSU library system site on one of his sets:
Several Solr-powered open source faceted navigation search systems for libraries have been …
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I’ve long had a passion for improving the findability within libraries. The richness of the cultural artifacts that one can find with a bit of foraging astonishes the imagination. I had the pleasure of working with the Applied Research in Patacriticism group at the University of Virginia. While building the first version of Collex (collect/exhibit) for NINES I was approached by Bess Sadler asking about the viability of using Solr for searching and faceting on …
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