Until recently, French literature about MooTools was pretty much non-existent. Thanks to Xavier Lecomte, now there is a very good book about MooTools in your native tongue that will get you up to speed in no time.

Découvrez Mootools - Un framework JavaScript pour des sites dynamiques et interactifs (Discover MooTools - A javascript framework for dynamic and interactive websites) is aimed at beginner and intermediate developers who wish to create spectacular effects using MooTools. This book does not go deep into topics that would likely only confuse you, but instead it keeps everything simple and provides many clear cut examples and illustrations that will facilitate your understanding. Priced at 12.5 Euros (~15$) it’s a must-have if you’re looking to learn MooTools.

As the author says, it does not cover the entire framework. Instead, Xavier Lecomte selected the most commonly used MooTools pieces and explains them in detail. Throughout this book, you’ll learn how to create classes, handle DOM elements, create AJAX requests and create effects using Fx classes. The latter is probably the most discussed topic of this book as it goes through almost every Fx-based class in MooTools. When it comes to Fx classes, the most complex part is probably options. Although they are well named, they could be difficult to grasp, especially to the novice user. This book makes this type of functionality very clear by explaining all the options for each class discussed, at times, through the use of illustrations. The Fx chapter wraps up with a complete example, where the author builds a pong game using tools explained throughout the chapter.

Finally, the book discusses work done by the MooTools community. Although it does not go deeply into each project (most of them would require a book on their own), it gives a good idea of what MooTools is able to offer.

To conclude, if you're a native French speaker interested in learning MooTools, this book is a must-have, especially at that price. I hope Xavier Lecomte will continue writing about MooTools, the in-depth detailing of this book is amazing and will certainly benefit many.

I’m very happy to present the latest version of Moobile. This release focuses on stability and building solid groundwork for the future. This includes, for instance...

iOS 6 Theme

The iOS theme has been updated to closely match the recent changes in iOS 6 for both iPhone and iPad. This release also addresses the updated border-image syntax that casued issues with buttons inside bars or alerts. Finally, elements that were not hardware-accelerated (using only translateX or translateY) are now as smooth as they should be.

Android Theme

This release includes a basic Android 4 theme. This is still a work in progress and, since my testing devices are limited, I cannot guarantee it will work well on all devices. Any tips you can share about improving speed on Android would be greatly appreciated.

Transitions

Two more transitions were added: Cover.Page and Cover.Box. They aim to replicate modal view transition on iPad. The cover transition, using the Android theme, has also been customized to match the native Android look and feel.

Simulator

The simulator’s UI has been improved. It’s now less intrusive and provides a zoom functionality. Keyboard shortcuts were also added; you may now use the arrow keys to zoom or rotate. Settings (such as orientation, zoom and options) are now saved on a per-device basis so you won’t have to zoom out every time you use the iPad device on your laptop.

The Boiler Plate

Touch icons and startup images for all sizes have been added to the boiler plate.

Moobile.Component.defineAttribute

A minor improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. For those who were tired of writing data-option-style-name, data-style is the new alternative. It’s now possible to specify a behavior for certain attributes on a component thanks to the Moobile.Component.defineAttribute function.

The Future

The next release will geared towards adding content. Tab views, split views and on-off switches will be included in the new version. I’m also planning to improve the documentation, add more examples and make things easier to understand.

Requests

If you have any requests, you’re welcome to contact me through the GitHub page. I’ll be glad to listen to your requests and, hopefully, improve your experience working with Moobile.

Moobile is developed by Jean-Philippe Déry and is hosted on moobilejs.com