Using XSL can completely change the way that any standard list view is displayed. There is a great video from Laura Rogers demonstrating what can be done with the XSLT List View in SharePoint Designer here.
XSLT
You can also build your own XSL sheets and use them in the style library by linking them in the web part properties.
Here is a standard web part view of a custom list:
Here is a standard web part view with custom XSL applied:
COM, jQuery and AJAX
Calling the SharePoint Client Object model with JavaScript, we can add items to the list without refreshing the page.
Inside the web part’s AJAX settings we can set the auto refresh so the list displays the new item (again without refreshing the page).
In this example, jQuery sets a fade-in animated gif to show the item being added to the list once send has been pressed. The fade-out effect is applied to the gif once success has been returned to the JavaScript function.
Building solutions like this can create complete customisable solutions using only custom lists in a modern integrated (no refresh) style.
