Client UI in Javascript

As web technology begins to mature, and especially with the advent of HTML5 and standards-compliant browsers, client-side Javascript is becoming a great choice for fast, responsive, and well-supported user interfaces. Gone are the days of loading a clunky Java applet, forcing users to install the JVM, and dealing with the intricacies of Swing GUI programming. Being able to run your interface directly in a browser makes it easier to reach the users you need, by reducing requirements to work on your HIT, and makes things run more smoothly.

TurkServer's client-side code is available as a node.js module so you that you can build it into a JS app any way you want. However, we've come to particularly like building single-page JS applications using an MVC framework, which is well-suited for doing experiments. Our tools of choice are Coffeescript, Spine, and hem.

We'll update this page about why these technologies are awesome for running experiments, but for now, you should check out the Spine docs above and read my StackOverflow post on how to get started.