For the past couple of weeks in my spare time I’ve been building a Rails application based on a very simple idea: I have a difficult time matching people to the projects they’re working on. Often when having lunch with friends, they say “Oh, you know the guys behind this web project right?” and more often than not it turns out that a) yes, I do, but b) I had no idea they were working on that project.

That need helped me create the app. The app is super simple as far as functionality goes. It only meets the very focused need of joining people to projects (and the associated creation and updating that are required to enter data).

As I started to throw it together, I realized that I could use this mini app as an opportunity to test some real Ajax interactions. I envisioned drag and drop sweetness, file upload progress indicators, smooth transitions, and more. I was willing to do them just for the sake of doing them (which isn’t a design philosophy I adhere too in normal practice).

Here’s the app: I call it projax.org, a play on the words Ajax and Projects. It looks simple beyond comprehension, so to start, type a single letter in the text field on the left and that should get you started.