YUI 2.5.0 Released — Big upgrades to DataTable, new Layout Manager, Flickr-style multi-file Uploader, and more

YUI 2.5.0 Released — Big upgrades to DataTable, new Layout Manager, Flickr-style multi-file Uploader, and more: „

The YUI Team just released version 2.5.0 of the library. We’ve added six new components — Layout Manager, Uploader (multi-file upload engine combining Flash and JavaScript), Resize Utility, ImageCropper, Cookie Utility and a ProfilerViewer Control that works in tandem with the YUI Profiler. This release also contains major improvements to the DataTable Control and new Dual-Thumb Slider functionality in the Slider Control. Here are the highlights:

  • DataTable Control: Jenny Han Donnelly has been joined by Luke Smith for this development cycle, and we’re all thrilled with what they’ve produced. DataTable in 2.5.0 gets a more robust markup structure that allows greater control over all aspects of the table. This release also includes major performance enhancements, improvements to the fixed-header implementation for vertical scrolling, built-in support for horizontal scrollling, an all-new Paginator class, support for drag-and-drop column reordering, and a new set of column APIs with hooks for showing, hiding, adding and removing columns.
    The DataTable and its new show/hide column interface.
    DataTable has been one of YUI’s most popular and important components since its debut, and this is its strongest release yet. If you have existing DataTable implementations that you want to upgrade, take a look at the new User’s Guide, as it has some detailed notes about API changes. The DataTable examples roster is another nice place to check out the new code in action.
  • The YUI Layout ManagerLayout Manager: Dav Glass has a lot for you to enjoy in 2.5.0, but top billing goes to his new Layout Manager. Layout Manager eases development of multipane UIs that take up either the full viewport or the full canvas of any block-level element. Layout Units within a layout are resizeable, collapsible, removable and swappable; transitions between expanded and collapsed states have built-in animation support. Whether you’re creating a full-screen application like Yahoo! Mail or a rich multi-pane pop-up, Layout Manager is a great place to start.
  • Uploader: If you’ve ever built a UI for uploading files via a browser, you know what the big pain points are: One file at a time, no easy way to track upload progress, no programmatic access to file metadata, etc. The new YUI Uploader addresses these issues and others, allowing for the creation of more powerful, intuitive, and responsive file upload experiences. Allen Rabinovich of the ASTRA Library team did the legwork on this one, and it’s the same code that underlies the Flickr Uploader. Uploader is our second JavaScript/Flash hybrid control (following on the heels of the Charts Control in 2.4.0).
    The YUI Uploader is the same code that drives Flickr's multi-file photo uploading interface.
  • Resize Utility: Layout Manager is built upon a new YUI utility, Resize. Dav’s Resize Utility formalizes the support that YUI Drag & Drop has long provided in example form and makes it easier for you to make any block-level element resizeable. Resizing can be implemented directly (the resized element resizes in real time during the interaction) or by proxy (a proxy element visualizes the interaction until its conclusion, at which time the resized element snaps to its new size).
  • The YUI ImageCropper ControlImageCropper Control: The Resize Utility makes a lot of things easier — and one of those is the implementation of an ImageCropper interface, which Dav built out on top of Resize for 2.5.0. Take a look at the examples and be sure to check out the support Dav provided for modifier keys in this very desktop-like UI control.
  • Cookie Utility: When he’s not busy writing books or working on My Yahoo!, Nicholas C. Zakas is cranking out new code for YUI. In 2.5.0, he contributes the Cookie Utility, a simple but powerful component that helps you get maximum mileage out of your limited cookie space. Because browsers limit the number of cookies you can set per domain (and because that limitation can sneak up on you if you manage a large site with many subdomains), the Cookie Utility supports ’sub-cookies.‘ Sub-cookies pack multiple name-value pairs under the umbrella of a single cookie, expanding the number of data points that you can store in cookie space.
  • ProfilerViewer Control: 2.4.0 saw the release of Nicholas’s Profiler, a headless, cross-browser kit for profiling JavaScript functions. To make it easier to access and interpret the data that Profiler collects, we’ve added a ProfilerViewer Control in 2.5.0 that sits on top of Profiler and visulizes its accrued data. ProfilerViewer leverages the Charts Control and the DataTable Control. Taken together, Profiler and ProfilerViewer provide another arrow in the development quiver that includes tools like Firebug’s integrated profiling interface.

    The ProfilerViewer interface.

  • The YUI Slider Control now has dual-thumb support.Slider Control with Dual Thumb Support: Supporting dual-thumb interactions in our Slider Control has been on our list for awhile, and Luke took the opportunity to get this out to you in 2.5.0. Sliders are ‘finite range controls’; dual-thumb sliders allow you specify a sub-range within the control’s larger range. The classic use case for dual-thumb sliders is on shopping sites, where such controls can allow users to filter results based on price range. Check out the User’s Guide, example, and the new Slider Cheatsheet (which has a second page dedicated to dual-thumb implementations).
  • We’re using this release to promote the following components from beta to GA status: ColorPicker Control, Get Utility (for cross-domain, dynamic loading of script and CSS files), JSON Utility, ImageLoader Utility, and YUI Test Utility. These promotions reflect the maturity of those components and their very low bug traffic. As always, we’re releasing all new-for-2.5.0 components under the beta moniker, and we’re looking forward to your feedback on those once you get a chance to try them out.
  • Full details on the release, including a rollup of the changelog for all components and a bug/feature manifest, are available in Georgiann Puckett’s update to the YUI developer forum this morning.

One More Thing…

YUI now ships with more than 270 examples, many of which are accompanied by full tutorials to help you get started using YUI. And while individual examples are good, we’ve gotten a number of requests to create an über example, one that pulls in and makes use of a wide range of YUI components in a single sample application — while still being YUI-centric and not littered with noisy implementation logic.

The incomparably prolific Dav Glass rose to the challenge for 2.5.0 with a complex, multi-component example that uses Layout Manager as its basis and Yahoo Mail as its inspiration.

Dav Glass's multi-module YUI application example.

Let’s Celebrate!

We’re excited to get 2.5.0 out the door and, as luck would have it, we’ve got a fantastic excuse to celebrate. YUI’s (and the Yahoo Pattern Library’s) second anniversary party is coming up next week (February 26, 5 p.m., Sunnyvale), and we’d love to have you join us. Sign up on Upcoming to let us know you’ll be stopping by at Yahoo! HQ for some beer and general revelry. We look forward to showing off some of the stuff you all have been doing with YUI in the past two years and we’ll talk a bit about where Patterns and YUI are headed from here.

(Via Yahoo! User Interface Blog.)

Google Gadgets for the Mac

Google Gadgets for the Mac: „Posted By Mike Pinkerton, Software Engineer

Earlier this year, I posted here to introduce Google Desktop for Mac OS X. Today, on behalf of my team, I’m happy to unveil the latest feature of Desktop: Google Gadgets for Mac OS X Beta.

This feature brings hundreds of existing Google Gadgets to Dashboard. You can add fun gadgets (such as bowling, virtual flower pot, or YouTube), useful gadgets (weather maps, driving directions, and news), and others that offer daily wisdom for the ages (Confucius, horoscopes, and even a joke of the day!). These gadgets look and behave just like any other Dashboard widget, so you don’t have to learn anything new.

With hundreds of gadgets available and more being added every week, you might wonder how to get started. No problem! The Google Gadgets application is your one-stop shop for all available gadgets, complete with search to quickly find what you’re looking for. If you’re concerned you might miss out on new gadgets as they come along, don’t be. The Google Gadgets application regularly updates itself so the list of available gadgets is never out of date.

You can download the new software at http://desktop.google.com/mac/.

The best part is that anyone can create a gadget. If you are interested in developing your own Google Gadget, check out the Desktop Gadget API homepage. There you’ll see how to create a cross-platform gadget that runs on both Mac OS X and Windows. If you’re already a gadget developer, download the Beta today to test your gadget on a Mac and ensure that it works correctly.

We need your help and your feedback to make this Beta an even better product. Please come visit our forum and let us know how we can do that.“

(Via Official Google Mac Blog.)

c’t magazin.tv: Der plötzliche CD-Tod

Gefunden auf heise online

Äußerlich ist kein Defekt erkennbar, aber der Computer will die CD mit den wertvollen Daten einfach nicht mehr lesen. Die so sicher geglaubten Dateien sind für immer verloren. Immer häufiger beklagen Computernutzer Datenverlust auf selbstgebrannten CDs und DVDs. Aber auch das Deutsche Musikarchiv in Berlin hat immer größere Probleme mit dem Datenschwund auf den Musik-CDs der ersten Generation. Hier hat sich die lösemittelhaltige Beschriftung durch die CD gefressen und die Datenstruktur zerstört. Das c’t magazin.tv erklärt morgen um 12:30 im hr-Fernsehen, wie sicher CD und DVD sind und was man tun kann, um dem totalen Datenverlust vorzubeugen.