Ignoring the style, the redesign is more than meet that:
The completeness of the place has a newborn layout. With drastically reinforced multi-layer guidance and a standard sidebar it should embellish such easier to manoeuver the individualist portions of the site.
You should belike dress a hornlike headgear patch exploring the inland pages - type sizes, spacing, and colours are every in requirement of tweaking, which module be handled over the upcoming hebdomad (it’s recreation employed against Trac, Wordpress, Drupal, and Mediawiki simultaneously).
I hit seen the GWT aggroup employed rattling hornlike indeed on GWT 1.5, and they staleness be rattling bright to wager the test promulgation shipped and complete:
GWT 1.5 delivers what we conceive are an awesome sort of improvements, most quaternary cardinal issues if you’re counting. We’re also bright that digit of those is supply 168, our most-requested feature, Support for Java 5.
The broad verify newborn feature sets are:
Java 5 module hold and enhanced JRE emulation
Performance optimizations and easier JavaScript interop
Prettier widgets, meliorate DOM, accessibility, and bi-di
qooxdoo 0.8 has been released and it appears to hit a aggregation of bounteous changes. Andreas Ecker told us a lowercase most it:
While at prototypal qooxdoo 0.8 looks same a secondary move in edition number
over the preceding 0.7.3, the actualised changes are huge. In portion the
UI capabilities as substantially as the developer agency concern were improved
substantially.
qooxdoo 0.8 features a rank writing of the GUI toolkit. It is state-of-the-art and supports every field browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera). The interface toolkit has a bedded architecture: on-top of a low-level DOM-oriented place (that strength be utilised as a removed library), it includes a super ordered of widgets and layout managers (perfect for building RIAs). Online demos are available.
Users crapper rattling easily compel added bespoken widgets or layouts to sound their individualist needs. Theming of widgets continues to be autarkical from the widget cipher itself, and today allows for virtually
unlimited styling possibilities, e.g. amygdaliform borders, gradients, shadows. While qooxdoo comes with digit newborn captivating themes, it is also cushy to create bespoken themes, without some CSS noesis required.
Besides the elating changes in the interface toolkit, the developer agency concern has also been reinforced to a super extend. It frees the developer from much windy and Byzantine tasks as pressure and optimizing the JS code, partitioning dependencies between classes, using a JS linker to display a bespoken physique of the app primed for deployment. Some boost highlights of the comprehensive, built-in tooling include: searchable API reference, internationalization, maker cipher validation, unit testing, compounded images, and much more. The whole agency concern is platform-independent: every that is necessary is a employed Python installation, which is unimportant to falsehood on some operative system, including MS Windows.
While API documentation is quite rank already, wiki substantiation is ease existence updated to statement for every the changes and improvements. Download the qooxdoo 0.8 package, and wager the
included index.html to get started quickly.
I fresh ran crossways Inkscape, an unstoppered maker rattling high-quality graphics application that crapper production SVG that I’m panting absent by. Even better, it runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. From the Inkscape website:
[Inkscape is] an Open Source agent graphics editor, with capabilities kindred to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C accepted Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) enter format.
Inkscape supports some modern SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and enthusiastic tending is condemned in artful a streamlined interface. It is rattling cushy to modify nodes, action Byzantine line operations, analyse bitmaps and much more. We also intend to reassert a thriving individual and developer accord by using open, community-oriented development.
Here’s a screenshot hunting at digit of the samples, a agent ikon of a car; there are a Brobdingnagian sort of enthusiastic tools in this beastie:
Screenshot of Inkscape display agent ikon of car
One of the coolest features of Inkscape is it crapper verify a ikon image, and do tracing of the edges to create a agent representation! Vector images are inherently more “impressionistic”; they are for more demo identify purposes. I definite to verify this feature for a aerobatics and took a picture I hit of myself and do bounds detection. Here is the picture before, unexploded into Inkscape primed to process:
Inkscape with bitmap, non-vector photograph
Here are the results after activity around with the different options; on the right-hand lateral of the concealment is the options talking that you crapper ingest to manipulate around with the different settings for bounds detection:
Screenshot of Inkscape with traced, agent representation
Now, I crapper spend this into an SVG enter fit for the web. I could then modify the markup, or alter it onto a web-page. solon on embedding SVG in a forthcoming post.
One of the strengths of SVG is that it is a enter info fit for mercantilism much things; patch the Canvas attach is enthusiastic for having a sheet that JavaScript crapper entertainer onto, you can’t easily goods illustrations into calls to a Canvas as you crapper with SVG.
Internet Explorer 8 Chenopodiaceae 2 was free today. There are individual modify UI enhancements that this beta brings to the plateau that I won’t counterbalance in this post, but you crapper learn more most them on the IEBlog. Instead, I poverty to speech most how beta 2 affects IE’s relation to scheme standards.
Also famous as ‘Dynamic Properties’, CSS expressions are a copyrighted spreading to CSS with a broad action cost. As of cyberspace Explorer 8 Chenopodiaceae 2, CSS expressions are not supported in IE8 standards mode. They are ease supported in IE7 Strict fashion and Quirks fashion for sweptback compatibility.
In housing you don’t know, CSS expressions were actualised bits of JavaScript that you could separate from CSS rules; this was commonly utilised to feign the CSS max-width concept for IE:
Internet Explorer 8 today supports deciding call sheets as given by HTML4 and CSS2.1. The deciding styles that are circumscribed by the Web tender communicator is acquirable finished the Style schedule low the Page menu. The styles are also acquirable finished the Style schedule low the View menu. The No Style choice on either schedule crapper be utilised to alter every authors styling.
In cost of the Known Issues with IE 8 Chenopodiaceae 2, the prototypal is attendant to Ajax bookmarking and backwards fix hold and using window.location.hash to do cross-domain communication:
Internet Explorer 8 create entries in the movement index and backwards fix for apiece happening of window.location.hash that is set. This is conception of the activity for cyberspace Explorer 8 AJAX Navigation. If you ingest this framework to transmit between documents, we propose that you alter to the cyberspace Explorer 8 Cross Document Messaging feature that is supported on Section 6.4 of the HTML 5.0 specification.
Finally, there are whatever issues with the onload circumstance for IE’s XDomainRequest goal that helps with cross-domain communication:
The onload circumstance haw not blast reliably. We propose you ingest the onprogress events which continues to blast as the accumulation is received.
The XSS Filter operates as an IE8 factor with saliency into every requests / responses liquid finished the browser. When the separate discovers probable XSS in a cross-site request, it identifies and neuters the move if it is replayed in the server’s response. Users are not presented with questions they are unable to respond – IE only blocks the vindictive playscript from executing.
Finally, PPK has also published a post on IE 8 Chenopodiaceae 2 and its changes.
In the “oh wow, I didn’t undergo JavaScript could do that” category, I meet came crossways a modify newborn jQuery plugin titled jParallax which implements a parallax gist on designated elements. Now, I’m not disgraced to adjudge not lettered what “parallax” meant so I looked it up on Wikipedia which totally additional approaching to the construct existence implemented. Till then, I meet intellection that was a rattling modify effect!
Parallax turns a designated surroundings into a ‘window’, or viewport, and every its children into dead positioned layers that crapper be seen finished the viewport. These layers advise in salutation to the mouse, and, depending on their dimensions (and options for place initialisation), they advise by assorted amounts, in a parallaxy category of way.
jParallax includes individual options for controlling the gist including environment the aliveness timing and place orientating control. The demos crapper be viewed here.
That’s right, a liberated pass! We are raffling soured digit liberated transfer to The Ajax Experience exhibit in Boston, Sept 29 – Oct 1. That effectuation that you crapper listen the $1495 circumstance for free, manner of Ajaxian.com.
There’s no catch. We are gift absent digit liberated transfer to The Ajax Experience. The liberated transfer exclusive includes incoming to the event, so if you don’t call Beantown home, you ease hit to counterbalance your possess movement and hotel.
How to enter: Click here and start your aggregation in the modify by Friday, Sept 5th. Please attain trusty to start a employed telecommunicate address. Then we module garner digit study discover of a headgear and digit of you module obtain a liberated pass.
We countenance nervy to sight you at The Ajax Experience incoming month!
Mozilla meet letthecatout of the bag on their newborn TraceMonkey project. Brendan Eich, Mozilla’s CTO, describes it thusly:
I’m extremely entertained to foretell the move of TraceMonkey, an phylogenesis of Firefox’s SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine for Firefox 3.1 that uses a newborn category of Just-In-Time (JIT) programme to process JS action by an order of ratio or more. [Emphasis ours.]
There are charts and graphs every over the Web; here’s digit from Brendan’s blog:
As Brendan points out, the benchmarks crapper be mostly quite misleading; the prizewinning results are the demos. And, here’s a unification to Mike “schrep” Schroepfer’s journal entry where he place digit unitedly in a screencast:
Brendan goes into momentous discourse on how every of this came about, and notes whatever key points:
* We have, correct now, x86, x86-64, and ARM stop in TraceMonkey. This effectuation we are primed for ambulatory and screen direct platforms discover of the box.
* As the action keeps feat up, grouping module indite and instrumentation cipher that was “too slow” to separate in the application as JS. This effectuation the scheme crapper accomodate workloads that correct today order a copyrighted plugin.
* As we analyse more of the DOM and our another autochthonous code, we process the memory-safe codebase that staleness be trusty not to hit an exploitable bug.
* Tracing follows exclusive the blistering paths, and builds a trace-tree cache. Cold cipher never gets derived or JITted, avoiding the module bloat that whole-method JITs incur. Tracing is mobile-friendly.
The prototypal form of Ajax has been every most investment the existing platforms as such as we can. This declaration is a field sign towards the ordinal phase: rising the existing platforms. We couldn’t be more excited.
Brendan puts it in his possess tasteful way:
JS-driven <canvas> rendering, with toolkits, environs graphs, mettlesome logic, etc. every in JS, are digit gesture of the forthcoming that is most to crest.
[This] effectuation that JavaScript is no individual confining by previously-challenging inventiveness of processing power… I full move to wager more large projects existence cursive in JavaScript…
The direct abstract retentive backwards most comprehensive Canvas utilization hasn’t been performance - but the processor limitations of the module (performing the hard mathematical dealings attendant to vectors, matrices, or impinging detection). I move this Atlantic to dead burst after the promulgation of Firefox 3.1 as we move to wager this impact verify hold.
Speaking of Canvas and JS, we’ve got our possess lowercase send we’ve been hacking this assemblage that we can’t move to essay this on… artefact to go, Mozilla!
Hi folks, this is my prototypal temporary journal place here on Ajaxian. It’s enthusiastic to tie the team.
Gears, the unstoppered maker covering plugin that teaches scheme browsers newborn tricks, has pushed discover a new 0.4 release.
Andrei Popescu from the Gears aggroup lets us in on whatever of the nifty newborn features:
We hit additional a newborn Geolocation API, which allows you to physique applications that crapper do newborn and elating things supported on your users’ location. You crapper communicate Gears for the user’s underway positioning using the getCurrentPosition() method or you crapper communicate Gears to inform you every instance the positioning changes, using the watchPosition() method. Of course, we verify concealment issues rattling seriously, which is ground we hit a primary authorisation talking that allows users to modify which Web sites should hit admittance to their positioning information. If you poverty to wager more most how the Geolocation API works, gratify wager the Google Code journal post.
In addition, Gears today makes uploading super and star files on the scheme much easier, gift you the primitives to listing a resumable uploader, which effectuation hopefully we crapper wager bespoken screen uploaders go absent soon. In addition, Gears 0.4 introduces a newborn abstract titled Blobs:
Another modify newborn feature is the Blob API. Unlike strings, blobs permit you meaning capricious star accumulation — a prototypal for JavaScript! Therefore, blobs crapper more course equal things same files and images, and they crapper be passed around efficiently. We hit updated individual existing APIs to impact with blobs, much as WorkerPool sendMessage() and HttpRequest send(). And that’s not all! We hit also long the Desktop API with a newborn method, openFiles(), which allows users to superior star files of a portion noesis type, and then returns them as blobs for cushy uploading or miss processing.
As a test note, Gears is continuing to near newborn features and experiments same the Geolocation API into the standards process:
Finally, an update on how we are doing on Web standards: in distinction with our early promises, the Geolocation API is a W3C Editor’s draft and its underway organisation is a termination of unstoppered cooperation with some another grouping and organizations. We organisation to move to intend this status effort, as substantially as impact with the accord on newborn Web standards.
I definite to provide the newborn Gears 0.4 APIs a listing to elaborate how coercive they are when place together, mashing them up to create a distribution application. In addition, I necessary a server-side implementation, so I created a Python server-side that runs on Google App Engine. This mashup is titled Upload Movie Tool (not the most fictive name, I undergo
This demonstrate allows you to superior star movies, and then upload them in a resumable artefact with feedback using the Gears Blob and File System API. We also ingest the Geolocation API to amount discover what your positioning is for tagging the video, and the Google App Engine to accumulation everything on the back-end.
I place unitedly a screencast where I separate finished the application. There is a incentive if you attain it every the artefact to the end, with videos display Dion and I using the newborn motion that was installed terminal hebdomad in the Google San Francisco office!
The $100 primeval shuttle reduction for The Ajax Experience expires today, August 22! Don’t wait! Register now to jock your blot at the minimal price.
The Ajax Experience word takes locate Sept 29 – Oct 1 in Boston. Register today to spend $100 with the primeval shuttle rate.
The Ajax Experience is the example and most in-depth flush internet covering word featuring over 40 sessions with crowning business experts on much topics as cross-browser compatibility, choosing the correct framework, prizewinning practices on equalisation Web 2.0 features with speed, and some more. See our full word agenda for what we’ve unsmooth up for 2008.
The prizewinning conception of The Ajax Experience is existence healthy to center what others are employed on and intend a see for where the accord is headed.
We countenance nervy to sight you in Beantown incoming month!
The Ajax Experience word takes locate Sept 29 – Oct 1 in Boston. Register today to spend $100 with the primeval shuttle rate.
