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JavaScript

MarionetteJS: Better Backbone Apps

Backbone.js introduced us to a more modular way of developing today’s web applications by separating our code into semantic and reusable pieces. Backbone’s main crutch was that it offered only the bare minimum so that it was easy to learn and didn’t force you to do anything that you didn’t want to do, but we were left on our own to figure out how to handle much of the implementation details. Marionette is here to help with that.

JavaScript

Scalable JavaScript Applications

JavaScript applications continue to grow as the web grows. We’re all learning that using application frameworks, such Backbone.js, Ember, Knockout, AngularJS, and countless others, but do these frameworks offer everything that we need? According to some very smart JavaScript programmers, there’s still a little more needed if you want a truly scalable JavaScript application.

Reviews

Book Review: Pro JavaScript Design Patterns

There are a lot of good books out there, whether they’re novels, references, or they teach you a skill or craft. In the JavaScript world, the book selection can be somewhat limited because it was only until semi-recent years that it took hold as a real language with real applicability, so older books on the subject can be a bit out of the loop. One of the books that treats JavaScript like a real language is Pro JavaScript Design Patterns.

JavaScript

The JavaScript Power of Twitter Bootstrap

Twitter Bootstrap has a lot to offer to make the creation of web applications simpler, especially in the way of visual design, but it’s not all HTML and CSS. Twitter Bootstrap offers some very nice functionality built in via some jQuery plugins. Everything from Tooltips to modal boxes, from scroll spying to carousels, there are some very useful tools here to ease your development.

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Dreadfully Busy

I’m busy, busy, dreadfully busyYou’ve no idea what I have to do.Busy, busy, shockingly busyMuch, much too busy for you.

JavaScript

Impressive Presentations With Impress.js and Extensions

Recently, there have been numerous JavaScript libraries released that make creating presentations in the web browser _somewhat_simple, and many geeks are jumping on the chance to depend less on Microsoft and start using their web development skills in new domains. This is an introduction to one of those libraries and a demonstration on how to extend it to make your job as a presenter even easier.

JavaScript

You're Using jQuery.html() Wrong!

Well, you probably are doing it wrong. jQuery’s html function is a very nice way to replace the contents of an element with new contents. Its usefulness is supposedly limited, though, according to the API documentation for this method. Every day jQuery users use this powerful method in a way that it was never meant to be used, and it works, but does that mean we should still do it?

JavaScript

Making a Node.js Command-Line Utility

Today, we’re going to cover how to turn your Node.js script into a native command-line utility, and then how to share it with the world using NPM (Node Package Manager). In the video, I’m using the trial-and-error approach to show you everything that is required and show the errors you might encounter along the way if you forget a step. It’s actually quite simple.

JavaScript

Backbone.js (Sub)View Rendering Trick

In Backbone.js, rendering views is really simple, yet not so much. It’s simple because Backbone doesn’t force you into doing it any specific way, so you have freedom to just use a bit of jQuery and dump the HTML into an element. Then again, since it doesn’t implement anything on its own, we’re stuck writing our own implementations, making it more difficult than it could otherwise be. In the case of rendering subviews, things can definitely get a little more difficult.

JavaScript

Polyfilling HTML5 and CSS3 With Modernizr

HTML5 and CSS3 offer web developers a lot of great options for making their websites much more beautiful and with much less work than what was previously possible. There’s one looming problem though: the lack of browser support. Thankfully, though, many JavaScript developers have been hard at work creating shims and polyfills to bring these wonderful capabilities to even the most feeble browsers.