Ext 2.0!!!

Last month I posted about Ext 1.1 and the amazing things you can do with it effortlessly. And I thought what else could be added to it, it is already so comprehensive. How wrong I was. Just have a look at this [link] to know what lies in store for all of us in Ext 2.0 which will be released soon.

To give you a brief idea, it now has row groups as well as group summaries in the grid, there is a new Column Tree class, has scrolling tabs, a new window class which can simulate a desktop environment inside a browser, and much much more. Visit the [Link] to know more about it.

Long Live Ext

CSS-JS Hybrid Multi-level Menu

Hi everyone,

I have been working on my personal implementation of a CSS menu to brush up my CSS. You can download the source from here. I must declare here that I modified and used the javascript code from some other implementation. I cant recall from where but I will find out and update this post.

I wanted the menu to be simple to implement and also standards compliant. I wanted the HTML to be no more than a simple nested UL, and so it is. So, I set off to make the menu.

It has always been a tough experience with IE, and yet again I found myself running for hacks to make IE work. My implementation requires a mouseover event on LI, so “li:hover” should work, RIGHT?…… WRONG. In IE “:hover” pseudo class is only applicable to anchor tags. So I had to include a conditional javascript block to attach event handlers to the mouseover and mouseout events of the LI element for IE.

For other browsers I have implemented similar behavior using CSS using the famous “html > body” hack.

The menu is working just fine, except for one thing. The borders of the parent menu are showing through the submenu, in spite of the “z-index” setting. Just look at the snapshots below.

IE

Firefox and other browsers

Still figuring out how to solve it. I would love to receive your feedback.

[Update] The IE bug is solved. Download the latest version from here. Thanx to Lalit.

Ext 1.1 launched

Finally, after a long wait, Ext 1.1 is out with all the goodies like a lightweight HTML editor, improved Date Field and the Ajax class and much much more. I will be trying this out real soon. Next thing on my wishlist is definitely Ext 2.0 with its super cool window class. Ext team, you rock.

The main features of this version are

1. A very lightweight HTML Editor class
2. Improved Date Field
3. A very convenient Ajax class with global Ajax events and global headers
4. Behaviors, which let you attach listeners to tags on the basis of selectors
5. Much better documentation

You can read the blog post here.

Selector Wars

Jack Slocum of Ext fame recently posted a comparison of CSS Selector speeds among different JavaScript libraries. The results are pretty impressive. Looks like performance is starting to become the foremost concern among the different libraries. The librariesin question are - Ext, jQuery, Dojo, Mootools, Prototype.

You can view the post here.

But why all the spotlight on CSS selectors only? What about other aspects of JavaScript like text metrics, element manipulation, event management, problem of memory leaking, state management, etc. There are no good comparisons on these lines, maybe because not all libraries support these features.

Anyways, according to the tests Opera seems to outperform other browsers, and Ext seems to outperform other libraries by a fair margin. But one could easily say that the results are tainted as they come from Jack himself. If that is the case, you can always run the tests yourself. Navigate here.

These libraries are doing their bit, but with the present incompatibilities among browsers and slow rendering of JavaScript, it is nearly impossible to push the performance any further. Its true that they keep on raising the bar, but the saturation point seems to be quite near.

500 GB Holographic Discs

Well, the title says it all….. some scientists at Technical University of Berlin claim to have developed a technique using which they can cram up data to the tune of 500 GB on a single disc….. and by 2010 they plan to double the capacity….. it will use multi-layered holographic storage to store data all across the 3 dimensions of the disc…… neat…. here’s the [Link] to the article for your reading pleasure…. I would be waiting for this monster to hit the market….. +1 to my wishlist

Web App….. what Web App?!

We all know that slowly Web Applications are gearing towards replacing the traditional Desktop Applications, but how soon and how well? Will Web Apps ever come close to replacing Desktop Apps or will they keep content with being called the cyber clones of the Desktop Apps after giving a tough fight? Will they ever pack enough punch to blur the difference between the Desktop world and the Cyber world?

Well, you will find sufficient support for both the camps, and I once myself said in a reply to a blog post that Web Apps are not meant to replace the Desktop Apps, rather they are meant to complement their desktop counterparts to provide a fuller experience to the users. But there is one person who is tilting me in the other direction, read Jack Slocum. He has set the internet ablaze with his mindblowingly beautiful and unbelievably powerful library. Just google for his name and see for yourself.

Recently in a blog post he demonstrated to the world what can be done using Adobe Air and Ext 2.0. What should I say about it, freaking awesome.

 

“Nobody can be told what the Ext is, you have to see it to believe it“

- Morpheus, The Matrix (abridged, of course)

 

So here you go

• The sample App using google gears and Ext 2.0 [Link]
• The Blog Post [Link]
• The forums (This is where all the action is discussed) [Link]

 

Free Your Mind

 

Open Source

Hi everyone…… I have been working in Open Source technologies for over 2 years now…… and more than a year in a professional setting…… I was quite unaware of the various initiatives being taken by people around the globe…… rather the whole concept of the Open Source is relatively new to me…… but now, thanks to the exposure provided by my company, I am begining to see the advantages and need of Open Source…… it is still surprising to see how much enthusiastic people are about it, and I still don’t fully understand how they make money out of something they are giving away for free…… but I like it anyhow, because it gives me the power, the tools, the flexibility and the support which I need to be creative and productive…… it automatically instills a feeling of sharing and helping others

But this is not why I wrote this post …… there is an unconference being organised by OSSCamp (similar to BarCamp) which is going to be held in the month of September in New Delhi, India…… the theme is Open Source

Not only am I going to attend the event, I am going to speak in it…… the details are not yet finalized but you can find the tentative list of topics here

 

Hope to see you there…….

Hello world!

I welcome all of you to my Blog. This is my first post and I hope to make this blog a worthwhile visit hereafter. I was really hesitant in kicking off this blog as I generally am not able to squeeze out the time to maintain a blog. More than that, I am often boggled by questions like – is it worth sharing, will it really help someone, is it bit too amateurish, etc etc. But thanks to a good friend of mine, I finally decided to give it a try and I hope it won’t be stranded like my other blog :).

Look out for this space if you want some technically inclined stuff.