Javascript Fu
Londoner Dan Webb, creator of the UJS4Rails.com website with plugins for Unobtrusive Javascript, presented about some tips and tricks for dealing with Javascript in Rails. He revealed that he’s not maintaining the Unobtrusive Javascript plugin but instead has been focusing his free cycles on an extension to Prototype called LowPro.
I actually had a bit of a hard time following much of the technical nitty gritty of this talk. Mostly because my Javascript skillz are lacking. But also because it was packed as hell and pretty uncomfortable to sit still.
Dan did stress that we should all do a better job of making sure our Rails apps at least still function when Javascript is not available. He presented an example of an acquaintance who was unable to use any site using the standard AJAX frameworks because they all used the eval function of Javascript which the corporate security nazis frown upon.
His recommendation was to think about how your app can work, albeit with reduced functionality, when Javascript is not available to the user. One should build their app without any AJAXishy features at first, and then layer on the Javascript, AJAX, and “interface sheen” as he called it. I agree, although I think a decision about how much functionality to provide fo non-javascript-enabled browsers needs to be carefully considered in the context of the project at hand.
