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

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.

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