Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.babel-17.com This is the right direction. But definitely not where the momentum is :-D
Let us know when we can run Babel-17 in most major (mobile and desktop) browsers.
I will.
The first open source multi-device development framework.
31–39 of 39 posts
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#32The more devices targetted by a framework, the lower the common denominator...
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.babel-17.com This is the right direction. But definitely not where the momentum is :-D
You're comparing apples to oranges. New programming languages are great, but it's a very different problem domain than web UI interfaces.
Nope, it isn't. Yes, Babel-17 is nowhere near to be used for UI on all platforms. Yet. These days people underestimate the power of languages, saying "it's all about libraries". Libraries are nice, but you can get better libraries with better languages.
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#34Everybody, just a friendly reminder not to be too harsh on these guys. They are putting their stuff out in the open for others to use, so if you find faults offer some positive feedback and encouragement. Your website is obviously getting hammered right now, so I couldn't really read it. It does seem somewhat inaccessible, though. I did manage to get to your github and the first thing that struck me was that your pro…
What's with the tendency to assume that people chose the GPL by accident or by default? What if they chose it explicitly to ensure that any published changes are contributed back to the community?
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#35Seems like a quick way to bring up wizard-like apps - panels with navigation controls and content. How does it deal with screen-geometry?
can you be more specific? currently the adapters mostly implement the input methods of each device (touch, tv remove, mouse, ...) and most of the styling is left the the developer with CSS/Templates.
I'm thinking a phone app might factor the interface into multiple panels, while a desktop app may have one composite panel. A pad might not have buttons at all. So what is called "styling" is the hard part - essentially you have to write a new app for each platform.
How cool would it be, if an app specification could be vague, mention the elements by function but the platform determined the instance and layout? Maybe let you set a couple of clues, linking the elements together by properties, letting the app engine choose how to factor the app onto the device.
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#36Can I write in Javascript and your framework will convert it to a native iPhone app? If so, I'm gonna spread the word to my followers and make sure everyone at least tries this
There is such a project already, called PhoneGap: http://www.phonegap.com/
I meant convert it to a real native app, not wrap it. I meant actually converting the Javascript to Objective C. So when you do: Hi there!Hello!, it gets converted to: frame = CGRectMake(0,0, 10, 10); frame.label.text = "Hi there"; frame2 = CGRectMake(15, 15, ...) frame2.label.text = "Hello";
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
can you be more specific? currently the adapters mostly implement the input methods of each device (touch, tv remove, mouse, ...) and most of the styling is left the the developer with CSS/Templates.
I'm thinking a phone app might factor the interface into multiple panels, while a desktop app may have one composite panel. A pad might not have buttons at all. So what is called "styling" is the hard part - essentially you have to write a new app for each platform. How cool would it be, if an app specification could be vague, mention the elements by function but the platform determined the instance and layout? Maybe…
we do parts of what you describe:
an app is indeed specified in a quite abstract way (http://framework.joshfire.com/doc/0.9/gettingstarted/overvie...), however we don't go as far as implementing automatic transforms from multiple panels to a composite one for instance.
these choices are left to the developer but we make their implementation easy.
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is such a project already, called PhoneGap: http://www.phonegap.com/
I meant convert it to a real native app, not wrap it. I meant actually converting the Javascript to Objective C. So when you do: Hi there! Hello! , it gets converted to: frame = CGRectMake(0,0, 10, 10); frame.label.text = "Hi there"; frame2 = CGRectMake(15, 15, ...) frame2.label.text = "Hello";
Titanium from Appcelerator does allow controlling native components from javascript, however the base UI definition is not HTML AFAIK.
Re: The first open source multi-device development framework.
#39The more devices targetted by a framework, the lower the common denominator...
That is if you plan to run almost the same code on all platforms
Two counter examples here:
- For devices without a JS interpreter, app is executed server-side
- Progressive enhancement / Graceful degration : some platforms can have more features than others