qooxdoo: javascript framework for desktop-like web apps | Hacker News Reader

qooxdoo: javascript framework for desktop-like web apps

qooxdoo.org

23 pointschaostheory18 comments

Nice job of aping the Windows look... but often, web apps should look like web apps, since they are stuck in the browser pane, and suffer some network lags. I've seen a lot of projects shoot for a 'desktop-like' look & feel, spend a lot of time chasing it, but always miss by at least enough that the app lands in an 'uncanny valley', neither webby nor desktoppy.

I've spend the last 9 months building a web-application that had to look like a desktop one. I never liked the idea, but my bosses and our customers were not reasonable.

Now we have an application that runs on a web browser, looks neither like a web pager nor a desktop application, the back button does not work neither the bookmarks. Also, it feels reaaally slow, and there are some big hacks to ensure it works on both IE and FF (on safari and opera you get a message recommending to use IE/FF).

Moreover, we did not use the standard backend for the framework, and we had big problems to make them work well together.

I'm ashamed of myself :(

Considering the pointy haired boss ignored your advice and let the customer run wild in the design phase, you have no reason to feel ashamed for that abomination.

Dayum that sucks! But I agree that web apps should look like web apps and desktop apps should look like a desktop. Not that there is anything wrong with the latter. So how did the project go?

It is currently working and our customers seems happy.

If they're accepted, Web 2.0 names are going to create some crazy scrabble high scores.

Selecting the "right" JavaScript framework to work with is a classic example of how broad choice is paralyzing.

You could spend weeks evaluating everything out there looking for the "right"/"best" one for your needs.

The "right" framework/library is often 'none'.

A few years back I would have agreed with you. But since the birth of jQuery. I can't say your statement holds any weight now.

I always get nervous when I see statements like "No HTML, CSS nor DOM knowledge is needed" but this does seem an interesting set of tools - I am looking forward to having a few more minutes to spend reviewing this properly.

Response seemed a little slow to me, but I don't know what the quality of the staging was by the time it got to my browser so I'll reserve judgement.

I hope this framework does not make the mistake of that other Windows-look framework has done, is overly model everything down to a setter/getter for the minutest datapoint -- end result is an uncompressed codebase that drags during creation and freeing.

Cut some corners, leave a few nodes out of those object hierarchies, and put more code on a single line - won't bother me any.

Wow. makes me feel old. I used to curse Netscape (if I wasn 't cursing IE) and curse IE (if I wasn't cursing Netscape) about DOM support. I used to write Javascript to programatically manipulate DHTML layers by hand and use Dan Steinman's DHTML library. It's so much easier now using Prototype et al.

Thanks for the Dan Steinman reference. I remember learning some pretty cool javascript hacks from his site years ago. Anyone who hasn't seen it oughta take a look.

http://www.jalix.org/ressources/internet/dhtml/_dynduo/dyndu...

"You must have Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 to view the examples of this site"

Cleary it is from years ago.

A shame he hasn't kept it up. I wonder what happened. Maybe he got so many paying gigs that this wasn't worth his time any more.

Wow. All this walk down Internet memory lane. Made me remember GaboCorp.

Remember GaboCorp >?> - the kick-ass Flash website done by a teenager/young adult? Well, get this, he has a blog http://pixelbreath.gabocorp.com/... he's all grown up - and just resigned as UX Lead for Comcast Interactive...

It feels a little too desktoppy, I think I'll stick with Ext

Hey cool...only if windows had a backbutton. But I like that I know javascript,css, and html

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