tim laqua dot com Thoughts and Code from Tim Laqua

JavaScript Auto-Suggest from XML

The other day, a co-worker requested an auto-suggest feature in the user name field of a web app that I had written a few months ago. Why? Not sure - to save 6 keystrokes, I suppose - but then again, 6 keystrokes at a time, it becomes justifiable eventually... And really, who can turn down a challenge like that?

Post-Implementation Numbers:
• Average Keystrokes saved per day: 179.4
• Characters in Scripts (Client and Server, no formatting): 4886
• Payback time: 27.24 Days

Not bad in terms of effort. Even calculating in the difference between developer salary and data entry salary - the payback is still within 3 months. (Assuming we develop in a vacuum and ignore opportunity costs - i.e. we had nothing better to do at the time.)