Mozilla Labs announced it will no longer maintain the Prism project. Attention instead will focus on the more general Chromeless project, which also is a ”task-focused layer” running on top of Mozilla’s XULRunner runtime environment. In a blog entitled “Prism is now Chromeless,” Lloyd Hilaiel wrote: “The final change we’re announcing today takes the form of widening of the goal of the Chromeless project, that is specifically, we now want to make it possible to build desktop applications with Web technologies. “
Archive for category Front Page
HTML5 Gets a New Logo
Jan 18
That’s all we needed, really, a new logo. Does anyone else feel the need to have this stitched onto a leotard with a cape? ;-)
Smart GWT 2.4 Released
Jan 13
Smart GWT 2.4 has been released and, as expected, they are jumping on the HTML5 and iOS/Touch bandwagon. The fact that the touch support doesn’t require code changes for existing apps is most welcome. Also, the mention of the upcoming Smart GWT Mobile with “pixel perfect iOS look and feel” sounds intriguing. Many have tried, few have succeeded.
From the release announcement:
- GWT 2.1.1 Compatible
- Smart GWT QuickStart Guide
- Touch & Mobile support : Support for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices with no code changes required.
- Offline support : The Offline subsystem provides features for storing and retrieving values in persistent browser storage. It is also seamlessly integrated into the normal DataSource request/response cycle. With a single property DataSource.useOfflineStorage you can enable automatic offline caching of recently fetched data so that if a user goes offline they still have access to last data they viewed.
- User Defined data highlighting allows users to highlight important or unusual data values in a ListGrid or TreeGrid based on dynamic user defined rules instead of hard coding such logic for background and foreground cell colors within code. A Highlight Editor allows end users to fully configure such highlight rules to customize their view of the data.
- Advanced Hover components allows any UI component to be added as a hover, such as a grid, chart or even a layout combining several components when hovering over a ListGrid or TreeGrid row.
- Simplicity theme : A new ultralight skin that is easily customizable and virtually image free. This can be viewed by selecting the “Simplicity” theme from the dropdown in the Showcase explorer.
- IE Performance improvements : Performance improvements have been made across the board but some IE specific performance enhancements have been made and users can expect a significant improvement in responsiveness in IE.
- 24 hour Calendar support : The Calendar component now supports 24 hour time formatting.
Smart GWT 2.4 Released
Jan 13
Smart GWT 2.4 has been released and, as expected, they are jumping on the HTML5 and iOS/Touch bandwagon. The fact that the touch support doesn’t require code changes for existing apps is most welcome. Also, the mention of the upcoming Smart GWT Mobile with “pixel perfect iOS look and feel” sounds intriguing. Many have tried, few have succeeded.
From the release announcement:
- GWT 2.1.1 Compatible
- Smart GWT QuickStart Guide
- Touch & Mobile support : Support for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices with no code changes required.
- Offline support : The Offline subsystem provides features for storing and retrieving values in persistent browser storage. It is also seamlessly integrated into the normal DataSource request/response cycle. With a single property DataSource.useOfflineStorage you can enable automatic offline caching of recently fetched data so that if a user goes offline they still have access to last data they viewed.
- User Defined data highlighting allows users to highlight important or unusual data values in a ListGrid or TreeGrid based on dynamic user defined rules instead of hard coding such logic for background and foreground cell colors within code. A Highlight Editor allows end users to fully configure such highlight rules to customize their view of the data.
- Advanced Hover components allows any UI component to be added as a hover, such as a grid, chart or even a layout combining several components when hovering over a ListGrid or TreeGrid row.
- Simplicity theme : A new ultralight skin that is easily customizable and virtually image free. This can be viewed by selecting the “Simplicity” theme from the dropdown in the Showcase explorer.
- IE Performance improvements : Performance improvements have been made across the board but some IE specific performance enhancements have been made and users can expect a significant improvement in responsiveness in IE.
- 24 hour Calendar support : The Calendar component now supports 24 hour time formatting.
The Mozilla folks including Mozilla Evangelist Chris Heilmann thought it a good idea to introduce some “People of HTML5,” starting with Bruce Lawson of Opera, co-author of “Introducing HTML5″ and one of the curators of HTML5 Doctor. Among the most vivid new technologies of the moment Lawson cites:
…DAP (“Device APIs and Policy Working Group”). This thrillingly-named set of specifications is further extending the capabilities of the Web by specifying APIs that allow access to device features like camera, contact books and calendar — much like Geolocation gives browsers access to the device’s GPS capabilities.
http://hacks.mozilla.org/2011/01/people-of-html5-bruce-lawson/
Android 3.0, Honeycomb
Jan 8
At the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Google showed Android 3.0, Honeycomb.
It is the next version of the Android platform, designed for devices with larger screen sizes, such as tablets. Honeycomb is said to provide a “truly virtual and holographic user interface.”
Json.NET 4.0
Jan 8
Per James Newton, the latest Json.NET release targets .NET 4. Json.NET 4.0 comes with a Windows Phone specific dll, compiled using Windows Phone tools. A .NET 4 feature employed is the dynamic keyword, which allows variables and members to be statically typed as dynamic. Json.NET 4.0 adds support for dynamic keywords in a couple of areas.
The first and less visible of the two is in the JsonSerializer. Because there is no static list of fields or properties for a dynamic type the serializer interrogates the value for its members prior to serializing and deserializing. The end result is serializing should Just Work for any type that implements IDynamicMetaObjectProvider.
The Open Source JavaScript framework qooxdoo just shipped two new releases 1.2.2 and 1.3. While the first one is a regular bugfix release, the latter one includes substantial improvements across almost the entire range of the framework. Some highlights of the 1.3 release:
- New virtual List widget to visualize even huge data sets with supports advanced features such as single and multiselection, filtering, sorting and grouping, custom renderers
- New widgets and UI features (Tri-state CheckBox, ProgressBar, Toolbar with overflow handling, …)
- New experimental unit test runner with lightweight UI called Testrunner2
- Support for touch-enabled devices
- Deep integration of automated GUI testing with Selenium
- New qx-oo package for non-browser environments like Rhino or node.js
- More than 360 bugfixes and enhancements over the previous release
You can see lots of screenshots of these new controls and test out the features at the qooxdoo blog.
The Open Source JavaScript framework qooxdoo just shipped two new releases 1.2.2 and 1.3. While the first one is a regular bugfix release, the latter one includes substantial improvements across almost the entire range of the framework. Some highlights of the 1.3 release:
- New virtual List widget to visualize even huge data sets with supports advanced features such as single and multiselection, filtering, sorting and grouping, custom renderers
- New widgets and UI features (Tri-state CheckBox, ProgressBar, Toolbar with overflow handling, …)
- New experimental unit test runner with lightweight UI called Testrunner2
- Support for touch-enabled devices
- Deep integration of automated GUI testing with Selenium
- New qx-oo package for non-browser environments like Rhino or node.js
- More than 360 bugfixes and enhancements over the previous release
You can see lots of screenshots of these new controls and test out the features at the qooxdoo blog.
Jupiter IT announced today the release of v3.0 of JavaScriptMVC, their OSS framework for enterprise-scale applications. The release encompasses a bevy of new features which touch on testing, Less and CoffeeScript support and enhanced documentation. The features/updates mentioned include:
- FuncUnit – Web Testing Framework
- Stand Alone Sub Projects – You can download only the tools you need
- Multi-Page builds – Optimize builds across multiple pages
- Less and CoffeeScript support – Use Less and CoffeeScript without having to refresh your page.
- New Folder Structure – A revamped file structure that makes it easier to build modular applications.
- Learn-ability – Much better docs, examples, demo, etc.
This new release also breaks out the framework allowing for individual subprojects which can be used independently instead of needing the whole framework. Each has their own github repo, documentation and support.
With 3.0, every part works standalone. So no matter the project, you can start benefitting from JavaScriptMVC’s goodies.
Big steps have been taken to improving the learning experience and getting developers up-to-speed. This includes:
- Updated and thorough documentation
- Demo app which shows how to start off with the framework
- Online tests
- An intro article to get you started