New MooTools Core & More Releases; Forge, Depender, ART, and Moo 2 on the Horizon
Written By David Walsh, on Tuesday, September 22nd 2009, 8:39pmThere’s always a lot going on behind the scenes with the MooTools javascript framework. And how could there not be? Here’s a look at what’s coming in the next few months.
MooTools Core 1.2.4 and 1.1.2
As we turn our attentions towards MooTools 2.0, version 1.2 will not receive any significant upgrades. However, until MooTools 2.0 is released we will continue to support the current version with bug fixes. To that end we’re releasing MooTools Core 1.2.4 which fixes several small bugs and addresses a change coming in the next release of Firefox. Because of this inconvenient Firefox change, we’ll also be releasing MooTools Core 1.1.2, an update to the 1.1.1 release. Sites using 1.1.1 will be able to drop in 1.1.2 without it affecting anything. We’ll post more details on this when we release these two updates.
MooTools More 1.2.4.1
While the 1.2 version of MooTools Core no longer accepts additions, MooTools More, the official plugins collection, continues to be iterated upon constantly. Included in the next version of MooTools More (1.2.4.1) are numerous bug fixes and performance enhancements, along with new widgets, classes, and extensions for you to play with. Here are a few:
- Mask - An overlay class that allows you to put a semi-transparent layer above any element, including the window.
- Spinner - This class automates putting an AJAX indicator over any element.
- Form.Request - This class makes any form element into an AJAX form.
- HtmlTable - This suite of classes let you create HTML tables on the fly, update and alter their contents, make them zebra striped, selectable, and sortable.
- Keyboard - The Keyboard class provides the tools necessary to manage a complex user interface with different keyboard enhancements.
Depender
Another plugin coming in MooTools More 1.2.4.1 is a client side dependency manager. This class allows you to lazy-load files from the MooTools libraries and any other libraries that use similar organization (i.e. those that map their dependencies with the same mechanisms).
In addition to this client side implementation of the dependency loader is a server side version that greatly improves performance. The server side implementation concatenates and (optionally) compresses the files together so that there’s only one request and is far more efficient.
MooTools ART
MooTools ART has been under development off and on for nearly a year now and for the most part has been under wraps. MooTools ART is the foundation for MooTools’ upcoming UI library. Using canvas and VML, it features support for dynamic illustrations, allowing complex UI elements that have numerous interactive states. When released, will come with numerous plugins for stylable windows, buttons, and more.
One of the most interesting ART features is its support for themes using CSS-like syntax in javascript. In conjunction with the default widgets that come with ART we hope to see the MooTools community create numerous interfaces using the system that allows for a fully themable UI by the end of the year.
Forge
Anyone who has been around the MooTools forums or IRC channel has heard that the user plugin catalog (which we call the Forge) is always “coming soon”. Well, this time, we mean it. The MooTools Forge is a new application which will act as a central repository for MooTools plugins created by, well, by you. The Forge will pull your code directly from GitHub, taking into account versioning and dependencies, and providing plugin usage details.
The Forge is currently in the last stages of testing. Look forward to seeing the MooTools forge by the end of October at the latest.
MooShell
MooShell is an outstanding interactive shell editor for debugging your MooTools code created by Piotr Zalewa. Instead of pasting your CSS, javascript, and HTML into static PasteBins, you may use MooShell to show others the issues you are experiencing with your code. You may also quickly experiment with different techniques and share your ideas with others.
MooTools 2.0
Your favorite javascript framework is about to become 1.612903225806452 times as awesome. MooTools 2.0 will feature an optimized Fx library, an improved Class class (one of the foundations of the entire framework) and inheritance model, blazing fast selector engine (Slick), numerous speed optimizations, and many more goodies. Look forward to a more detailed post soon!
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Sounds fantastic. Are there any dates set for the release of Core 1.2.4 and More 1.2.4.1?
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
woot! always great to see progress in mootools. keep it up!
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:58 pm
It’s nice to hear that the MooTools Team always keeps up the pace with other frameworks, but tries to do new features right the first time.
I am greatly anticipating ART! As MooTools is missing a UI library we are forced to look at other frameworks which is sad.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 am
Great news, good to see progress updates outside the google group.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 am
Great to see this improvements! Cant wait to test them and use them in our projects. :) Keep up a good work!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 am
Nice MooTools!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 am
Wow! Im waiting new features very much. They should be super!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 am
What is this change in the next Firefox version you are talking about? Will I need to upgrade the MooTools-files in my older sites?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:58 am
Great work!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:10 am
Nice work guys! Really looking forward to it!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 am
Great work guys…The future sounds good. Will v2 be backward compatible?
Thanks.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:52 am
Blimey! I really like the sound of the Forge, awesome. May I suggest another feature like dynamic dependencies, YUI3 have got a cool setup.. I’d love to see it in the Moo. keep up the good work guys.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 am
Really looking forward for MooTools 2.0!
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:53 am
Wow, can’t wait for the updates! Great work! :)
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:09 am
Veeery exciting! :p Mootools 2.0 sounds oversweet. Can’t wait for the release! Keep up the good work!
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:24 am
Whouah !
It’s always with a great plesure and respect that I reed those annoucements. Very great job. I’m very impatient of the 2.0 version.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 am
“Sites using 1.1.1 will be able to drop in 1.1.2 without it affecting anything.”
As a 1.11 user (and assuming I’ve understood this correctly) this sounds very interesting.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 am
Nice! I’m really looking forward to seeing the Forge project.
What are your plans/improvements for the Class class? Are you planning on adding post-instantiation mutators?
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 am
Awesome work guys - really looking forward to using …. well ALL OF IT :D
Rob
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:25 am
MooTools progress updates like these are important. Keep up the great work guys!
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hey I am happy to read this, especially about Forge, I think this is what mootools need to becomes “popular”. Good work guys.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:34 am
can’t wait for mootools 2.0! great work!
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
Is new site design will coming with mootools 2.0 too?
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
@posttoast: Yes, you will want to upgrade your MooTools downloads.
@NKprods: Definitely — Moo 2 will feature a compatibility layer.
@lm: You’ll have to wait and see! :)
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 am
Aw, just yesterday I’ve took a look to see if there were any news about new release! I am very much looking forward to it! Nice job!
Btw, you need to fix mootools doc site, it cannot be searched :(
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
when is mootools 1.1.2 coming out and what does it bring? please leak something, it may save me a huge refacrtoring effort and possible weeks of coding and testing to go to 1.2 …
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:20 am
” 1.612903225806452 times better… “
So only 60% improvement? From what I’ve seen, it’s more than that!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
When will the download for 1.2.4 be available?
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
@Barryvan - the release date for 1.1.2 and 1.2.4 is tentatively next monday, 9/28
@posttoast - Firefox 3.6 will remove the element method “getBoxObjectFor”. MooTools didn’t use this method to do anything other than to determine if the browser was indeed, Firefox. When version 3.6 comes out, sites using MooTools who do not upgrade will potentially mis-identify visitor’s browsers (those running the latest Firefox).
@DoomedLung - The Depender application mentioned above will allow you to load portions of MooTools and MooTools plugins on the fly, much like YUI.
@Tetsuo, Dimitar - MooTools 1.1.2 ONLY fixes the afore mentioned Firefox change. It adds no other features and addresses no other issues. You can drop it in place of MooTools 1.1.1 and your site will work exactly as it did before. @Sean - You are obviously using a subjective metric. We strongly encourage that practice.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
@DoomedLung: if you want an add-on for dependencies that covers the portions not covered by Depender check out $Uses - http://blog.citycrawler.com/?p=47
It does dependency loading of css and js for Classes (via a Mutator implement), functions (via a function implement), and code blocks (via a Window fn implement).
Happy depending!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Yes! Nice job on the updates, I am now eagerly awaiting 2.0. :)
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
This all sounds fantastic. And how does David Walsh say? “MooTools FTW!” :)
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
mootools FTW!
September 24th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Depender with server side. yummy!
September 24th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Keyboard.js is very cool, indeed! A quick demo: http://mooshell.net/MFFxu/3
September 25th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Thanks for the update… I look forward to the upcoming releases and can’t wait to play around with some of the new features
September 25th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Good job lads. We are behind you.
What if I have some mootools plugins/classes in sourceforge. How will the Forge handle those?
September 26th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Very exciting. Can’t wait to see ART.
September 27th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Great news! Am very much looking forward to forge being up and running.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Great! I want it all! :)