Web Info & Tutorials

Over 13,000 people are expected to run in the BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver marathon this weekend. via News 1130

We posted about WriteMaps.com back in December and Scott Jehl continues to update the site with cool new features. This time around Scott’s added a nifty print preview tool which leverages jQuery UI’s latest release candidate.

Printing on WriteMaps has always been more difficult than I’d like it to be. Some browsers helpfully tile a large sitemap across several printed pages while others simply print a crop of the top left portion of the map. Since the majority of browsers seem to do the latter, I’ve received numerous messages requesting better print control and I’ve been working hard at figuring out a good solution.

Scott created a custom print preview screen which gives WriteMap users a visual of what will be printed. By using jQuery UI, the print preview allows you to drag your sitemap into a the print area as well zoom in or out for better appearance.

This tool becomes particularly useful for printing large sitemaps, because you can drag and zoom your sitemap around to bring different sections of your sitemap into the printable area. This allows you to make printed tiles of your map which can be pieced together after printing. Here’s what the print preview looks like:

You can check out the feature using the WriteMaps demo link

I was perusing the Apple Store, getting ready for the dream dual-announcements of iPhone 3G + Macbook Pro, when I saw a new effect. When you go to a product page, there is now an enlarge link that zooms in the given products. You can click on them to go even closer, and then you can mouse around to see every nook and cranny. Double click to get back out, or close to go all the way back.

Take a peak:

Thanks to view source, it appears that Coherent, the library we just talked about, is in use here. Makes sense for a Cocoa style databinding tool to be in use at Apple!

Steve Souders has some more rules for us, as he announces a new book that he is working on. His preliminary view of the chapters are:

1. Split the initial payload
2. Load scripts without blocking
3. Don’t scatter scripts
4. Split dominant content domains
5. Make static content cookie-free
6. Reduce cookie weight
7. Minify CSS
8. Optimize images
9. Use iframes sparingly
10. To www or not to www

Steve has a call out to the community on thoughts for rules that you would like to see him cover:

The book should be out in early 2009. As I continue my research on web performance here at Google I’ll come up with another 5-10 rules to include. But I also wanted to ask you for suggested rules. What do you think is the performance killer for your web app? Better yet, what performance best practices have you discovered? For example, I think 3rd party rich media (Flash and JavaScript) ads are the long pole in the tent for many sites, and knowing the best way to embed widgets is growing more and more important.

I got to sit down with Steve to discuss the Cuzillion tool that we posted on last week. Steve talks about the project, and then walks us through a screencast showing how he found a problem with Orkut, and solved it.

I start with an aside; This must be the most un-Adobe website I have ever seen. Below is the entire website for the Open Screen Project:

As the site says, the details are in the press release which says:

The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment — taking advantage of Adobe Flash Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR — that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and devices, including phones, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes. The Open Screen Project will address potential technology fragmentation by enabling the runtime technology to be updated seamlessly over the air on mobile devices. The consistent runtime environment is intended to provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, and ultimately provide the best experience to consumers.

The cool part of all of this, is the fact that the old restrictions on the SWF and FLV specifications are now in the past. The restrictions used to say that if you read the SWF spec, you couldn’t build something that would run SWF files. So, could build an editor, a tool, but not a runtime in anyway.

This has just changed by:

• Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
• Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
• Publishing the Adobe Flash Cast protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
• Removing licensing fees - making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

With news of OpenJDK coming at JavaOne next week, we will see changes with the most deployed runtimes out there. Just the beginning of the path towards an open source Flash.

I keep thinking of the JVM playing FLV/SWF, and the Flash player grokking .class files!

March has flown by for me, and we had whatever enthusiastic announcements, and whatever laboring clothing of communicating to exhibit for it. The Webkit sept impact had the enthusiastic brainwave to actualise that though SVG and sheet are ease intellection of as more modern profession and are not mainstream in anyway, the problems that they crapper cipher are rattling useful. In fact, you crapper verify those tools and provide limited solutions to ingest cases. For example, ammo whatever corners! The CSS animations and CSS masks impact are dolphin beatific and exciting.

March was a reaching discover band for the Cloud, with the theoretical advertisement of Google App Engine and the programme of the upcoming Aptana Cloud. I impact a opinion that 2008 module be the “when we intend to impact the DEPLOY button” assemblage for developers, and I am rattling agog most it!

Finally, the grotesque parts. Ext JS 2.1 was released, and with it came a authorise change. This brought up the stream of whatever in the accord that intellection that the older authorise wasn’t valid, and with the GPL modify we saw OpenEXT, the fork.

The Ext JS aggroup is responding with unstoppered maker exceptions, and is asking for accord input.

Here is the flooded roundup:

JavaScript

• Google offers Search, Feed, and Translation APIs to Non Ajax Usage
• Talking most JavaScript 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9 before we intend to 2.0
• ECMAScript 4 Update: New Grammar, and No Tail Calls
• JavaScript, C#, and ExtSharp
• ASP.Net Ajax Site and Silverlight
• JavaScript SAX Based Parser
• window.crypto: poverty crypto primitives in the browser? You haw already impact it
• JavaScript has staying power; Used in Stargate
• JS Time Machine
• Pi.Debugger: Cross covering debugging
• A wishlist for Ajax APIs
• Java Plugin: The Kernel is back
• Dromaeo: JavaScript Engine Testing
• using.js: control JavaScript dependencies
• Server-side jQuery, E4X, and more with Jaxer
• Joose expands with newborn ORM
• Event Delegation for alter and focus
• Three Helpful JavaScript Libraries
• Conform your JSON to ECMAScript 4 with JCON
• JavaScript: The Good Parts
• DOH, permit me effort my code!
• Coherent: Cocoa Databinding for Ajax
• Java in JavaScript
• 100 Line Ajax Wrapper
• OraoWeb: Quicktime + JavaScript
• JavaScriptMVC Test Plugin
• Reminded of speech your YAHOO.lang
• FancyUpload: Swiff meets Ajax
• Making covering modules transmit with apiece another using Decoupling
• Ajax Accessibility and ARIA

jQuery

• jQuery gets Classy
• GQuery: Java, GWT, and jQuery together

Prototype

• Timeframe: Prototype fellow arrange component
• qGallery: Prototype room application
• jQuery and Prototype Benchmarks

Dojo

• Usable Directory Listings with Dojo
• Dojo-Mini and the Feature Explorer
• Chandler Server Upgrades to Dojo 1.0.2
• Dojo 1.1 Nice Features
• Dojo XHR Plugins; How do you poverty your XHR today?

Ext

• Ext JS and the recreation with Open Source licenses
• OpenEXT: The fork
• Ext JS responds with Open Source FLOSS Exceptions
• Ext JS 2.1 Released
• To GWT Ext or to Ext GWT?

Moo

• MooWheel: Unique Data Visualization
• NSFW Blocker Using MooTools

Browsers / Standards

• Gears and Web Standards
• What does the “Open Web” actually mean?
• The action of your Acid 3
• IE 8 demanding fashion doesn’t earmark for CSS opacity?
• OpenAjax Call-to-Action for Browser Wishlist
• Browser Update: Firefox 3b5 and Opera Mini 4.1 beta
• IE 8 Security Updates
• Getting feedback to the IE 8 team
• Yahoo! BrowserPlus: The gossip is true
• Yahoo! BrowserPlus: Why move for the programme when you impact strings?
• Last call for W3C XMLHttpRequest comments
• Embed your data- in HTML 5
• Taking Web Applications Offline, to the Desktop, and beyond
• Events Compatibility Tables; Powering the land Royals
• Are you trusty your deliver trainer is onset in IE?

CSS / UI

• Fun with SVG and CSS Animations
• GChart 2.0: Give me whatever pie
• Canvas2Image: Save discover your sheet accumulation to images
• CSS Gradients in WebKit
• Using sheet to effort your place with colorblind folk
• WebKit keeps feat with CSS Masks
• CSS Variables are next?

Mobile

• iPhone WebKit Goodness: 3D CSS Transforms and ontouch events
• iPhone Remote Debugger
• Mozilla Fennec: The ambulatory covering wars
• Mobile Browser Concurrency Test: Get your ambulatory browsers ready
• Now your ambulatory phones intend to verify whatever Acid

Performance and the Cloud

• What does Google App Engine stingy for Ajax developers?
• Aptana Cloud: Develop on your desktop, sync discover to the cloud
• Appcelerator on App Engine
• Cuzillion: Performance prizewinning practices tool
• Fast Streaming Ajax Proxy
• What is the forthcoming of Ajax applications conversation to the accumulation tier?

Showcases / Games

• The Twubble with Bob Lee
• Super Mario; 14KB of JavaScript
• Upside Down Text
• Mad Mimi: WYSIWYG Email Marketing
• Mosaic Image Builder with Ajax
• Immediate Translation and Mibbit
• Fingerprint: A indicant for your typing
• TPHP: Your bag tender crapper be a JavaScript bidding line
• JSONVid: Pure JavaScript Video Player
• ProtoRPG: Role Playing with Prototype
• Twistori: Telling a programme with Tweets and Script.aculo.us
• Spoiler Blocker When JS Isn’t Available

Utiltiies / IDE

• WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio for Mac
• Spket IDE 1.6.11 Released
• NetBeans today includes JavaScript support
• DOMAssistant 2.7 is Out, Strong Unicode Support and Enhanced Performance
• JavaScript Type Inference in IDEs

Misc / Humor

• Google releases GWT for JavaScript 2
• Book review: Advanced Ajax by Lauriat (Part 2 of 2)
• But I’m not agitated my mouse!
• Audible Ajax Episode 25: State of Ajax
• Popularity, History, and SCRIPT SHARED
• Flinging APIs in the Highlands
• Adobe Releases AIR for Linux, Joins LSF
• Web Archeology: Java Pluglet API
• SEO Rapper Friday
• Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocketguide

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