zahnster

Hello. I’m not dead, although I know the site’s been for some time. This is because life’s running at 1,000 miles an hour. I’m getting into my zone at Fox, every day seems to be a bit better, and I’m working on some pretty cool projects. I’ve been learning a whole new section of web development, and my exploration into JavaScript continues, but on a whole new level.

At Fox, now I have to think more than ever about file size, code efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. Ever since I’ve been “into” JavaScript I’ve been a fan of the Prototype framework. And why not? It’s solid, efficient, and the footprint… isn’t that bad. Coupled with Scriptaculous, it’s a powerful set of tools for any kind of JavaScript / Ajax functionality.

However, I’ve always had my reservations about this combo. First, Prototype is pretty useless in any kind of animation work on it’s own. Chances are, if you’re using Prototype, you’re using Scriptaculous, and they’re not exactly the lightest loads in the world. Also, not to knock on Thomas Fuchs, who is a brilliant JS developer, but the Scriptaculous website / documentation is poor at best. I’ve stumbled through the framework for 1+ years and still struggle to make my way through that site for any sort of a decent API. Prototype’s, by contrast, is beautiful.

But what about the alternatives? God knows there are plenty, but are there actually any good ones? There’s Spry, Mootools, Mochikit, Rico… the list goes on. Each has it’s advantages and disadvantages, but none of these I’ve really felt comfortable as using as a “Prototype replacement.”

But then there’s Jquery, and for the first time I’m taking notice of this powerful little framework.

The idea is simple - keep the base footprint light, and make mini ‘plugins’ for additional functionality. It allows for excellent customization for any project without having 100k+ of JavaScript. The framework also allows for chainability, which my quasi-developer head can barely wrap around, but keeps the lines of code written to a bare minimum (and somewhat elegant if I do say so). The framework also seems to have high standards for their plugin development, which leaves me confident that I am getting code that is solid through all standard client environments. All this, coupled with their basic yet functional Drupal installation of a website allow me to comfortably leave Prototype behind (sorry, guys).

It had a good run.