NetBeans 7.2 will Add JQuery Support

Hey JQuery fans. Found this story from the h-online. The NetBeans dudes are updating the JavaScript editor for 7.2. As part of that update they are gonna include JQuery support. Sounds cool!

HTML5 and LocalStorage

LocalStorage is one of the features of HTML5. It provides a key, value store in your browser. Here are some resources for more information.









Free Tutorials

Found a couple of free tutorials.

HTML5 Offline Application Cache

Dive in Javascript: Simple Address Book App

PaperKilledRock: HTML5 LocalStorage



Library

Of course, with new features like this, new libraries are always welcome. I have not tried this yet, but I intend to.

JStorage



Books

Finally, we have a book by one of the folks working on the spec.

Understanding Prototypes in JavaScript

Saw this JavaScript Prototype tutorial. Looks interesting.



Understanding Prototypes in JavaScript

Adobe Launches HTML5 Animation Tool

The big news today was Adobe's announcement of its new HTML5 animation tool. It doesn't have all the features of Flash but it is definitely a step in that direction. See the links for additional details.



Mashable: Adobe Launches HTML5 Web Animation Tools

Adobe Edge Download Page

Adobe Edge Resources

Phone Gap 1.0 Released

Wanna convert your JavaScript/HTML/CSS skills into mobile apps? Then PhoneGap is the software for you. The 1.0 release is now available.



ReadWriteWeb: Phone Gap 1.0 Launches

Markdown Cheat Sheet

The best way to learn about something is to create some sort of project. So to learn about HTML5, CSS media queries, and offline web page storage I created a cheat sheet template. The first example, a Markdown syntax Cheat Sheet.



Markdown Cheat Sheet



The page uses JQuery to allow you to show or hide sections. The interface should work both with a mouse and with touch. There is a CSS style sheet for any page the size of a iPhone 4 or smaller, and a style sheet for anything larger. The page has a manifest file so it can be used offline.



I will write up the things I learned from this little project in other posts.

JavaScript: Now powerful enough to run Linux

Yes someone went and did it. Fabrice Bellard to be specific. He has written a version of Linux using JavaScript. Yes that's right. Javascript. Wanna see? Check it out!

Click to Boot Linux!



Pretty amazing stuff. CNET has the whole story here:

JavaScript: Now powerful enough to run Linux | Deep Tech - CNET News

Jeff Prosise's Blog : Using HTML5 Web Storage for Interprocess Communication

This article is a real deep dive into HTML5's local storage feature. Regular features are are covered along with the how to use interprocess communication.

Jeff Prosise's Blog : Using HTML5 Web Storage for Interprocess Communication

JavaScript as a Server Language? Node.js

While eating dinner I ran across a Mashable article on Node.js:



O�Reilly Reveals Preview for Its First Book on Node.js



node.js is a web application development platform written in JavaScipt and runs on the Google V8 JavaScript engine. I don't understand it all, but from what I gather, it scales a lot better for large applications than traditional HTTP web servers. Here are some articles I found that provide more information.

• What is node.js?


• Understanding node.js


• Learning Server Side JavaScript with node.js


• node.js is Genuinely Exciting


• Databases for node.js

Very interesting stuff.

Wanna learn Design Patterns and Javascript?

If you are interested in learning more about JavaScript and Design patterns, check this out:

Essential JavaScript Design Patterns 1.1 � A Free Updated Book For Beginners



It is an online book written in HTML and JavaScript that teaches you design patterns for JavaScript and JQuery. I haven't read through the whole thing, but the examples look very good. And if you really want to learn how to do something the right way, this book could save you a lot of time. Plus it is a great example of how to do a book in HTML, a very clean design.

3 Cool JQuery and JavaScript Tools

The folks at WebAppers had three really good posts I wanted to link too. Here they are.

1. Easy to Customize Slideshow Plugin for JQuery


2. SlideNote Sliding Notification Tool


3. HeadJS Javascript Loader

Free iPad Ajax Drawing App from 37 Signals

37 Signals has created a cool Ajax drawing app for the iPad called Chalk. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks cool.



Notice that you can create pretty cool stuff without the hassles of the App Store.

Mozilla Browser Interface Design with HTML and CSS?

The Mozilla org is experimenting with defining the browser user interface with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Technologizer has the story with links here.



This could be really cool stuff. This would provide quite a bit of flexibility in the interface.

Developing for Google Blogger

I am looking into developing my own template for Google's blogger tool. So looking around I found a couple of resources of interest.

• Widgets - If you want to make widgets you can find the scoop here. You can do a lot more than that if you have an interest. The documentation is all on the site.


• Blog Templates - Base templates and documentation is on this Google group. The details are in the Pages section.

What's new in JQuery?

Ajaxian has a good post on what's new with JQuery. Updates to databinding, templating and mobile support.

Become a JavaScript Ninja

Ajaxian has an article on how to become a JavaScript ninja. A lot of good suggestions here. I would say join the right startup   or just regular company for that matter. Who knows, maybe the web development team at the local power utility is a fun bunch doing interesting work. Don't limit your options. Working with people you enjoy is the most important thing.



Build some tools you can use. Maybe other people can use them and who knows, maybe you will be employee #1. :)

Blue To Do Beta is Live

Well I am happy to announce that one of my little side projects (well at least part of it) is ready for public consumption. Check it out at:



Blue To Do



What is it you ask?  Well a really simple To Do List tool. Most of the To Do List tools out there frustrate me because they are so complicated. I just want something super simple. That is what this is. Just a single list. You can add items, move items, and delete items. Data is stored locally in your browser using the LocalStorage mechanism.



In addition, the goal for the tool is it will work on a touch interface like the iPad. It works on the iPad, but see I have a lot to learn about how to make the page size itself when its rotated. lol.



Future Features Will Include

• Offline operation


• Support for multiple lists


• Maybe a completion log


• Storage in the cloud and syncing support

Anyway, play around with it and let me know what you think. Also, I haven't really tested on Internet Explorer much, so right now you are limited to Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. Enjoy!

Dojo 1.5 is out and its Feature Packed

Dojo 1.5 is out and its feature packed, details from Ajaxian.



From the Ajaxian, story Dojo certainly looks to be a lot prettier. If you don't know, Dojo is a full featured open source JavaScript framework. It provides all the controls and widgets you would find in something like Visual Basic. And from the sounds of it, they are getting a lot of help from IBM. Definitely worth a look if you are comparing JavaScript frameworks for your next project.

Free Open Source JQuery Training Materials

I have been wanting to post this link for a couple of weeks. Rebecca Murphey has released open source training materials for JQuery! The materials are first rate and are available under a creative commons share license.



The training materials looks to be quite comprehensive. I really need to read through everything, myself. But, this sleeping at night thing is really getting in the way of my personal development. :)

JavaScript Namespace Example

I am currently working on a personal project that is getting kinda big in regards to the size of the JavaScript code. So it is time to organize the code using JavaScript namespaces. Since I could not remember how I did this in the past, time to create an example! :)



This namespace example puts almost all of the JavaScript code in the Blue namespace. The key point I was missing was the declaration of the space. For example, the namespace can be defined using JSON like this.

   1:var Blue = {
   2:  obj:{}, // Objects
   3:  gen:{}  // General Functions
   4:}
   5:

Note: Line Numbers are unrelated to the actual position of the code in the example



The 3 letter abbreviations separate functions and objects into something similar to Java packages. The package names should be spelled out, but I'm lazy so 3 letter abbreviations for me.



Declare your instance variables and methods with code similar to this.

   1:Blue.obj.List = function(newName){
   2:  this.listName = newName;
   3:  this.itemArr = new Array();
   4:}
   5:
   6:
   7:Blue.obj.List.prototype.addItem = function(newItem){
   8:  this.itemArr.push(newItem);
   9:}
  10:
  11:Blue.obj.List.prototype.deleteItem = function(index){
  12:  this.itemArr.splice(item);
  13:}
  14:

It may seem a bit wordy or maybe a bit of overkill at first. However, in the end your code will be much easier to maintain if you use this approach.