Javascript Chaos

I find it a bit hard to integrate cool stuff in MODx, since all the cool stuff uses different javascript libraries... MaxiGallery will usually at least pull in prototype, WebloginPE pulls in JQuery, QuickEdit uses mootools..

I understand that a lot of effort goes into making these work together, and some special versions or modifications of libraries are used. However, which version is almost never mentioned (QuickEdit simply pulls in mootools.js - this should have been named mootools-0.99.js or something).

I’d like a less anarchial approach to the handling of javascript - some way of registering a javascript library with MODx, so that when e.g. QuickEdit needs mootools, it could first check if this was already loaded by the template. Instead of having multiple versions of the libraries loaded. QE may be a moot point, since users won’t notice this, but still...

And is there some general encouragement towards ONE library used by MODx? So that snippet developers would try to use the same library? Javascript is becoming such a vital part of many modern websites, it could be good to have some strategy in place. At least for an unstructured mind as mine

Quote from: tjalve at Aug 20, 2007, 05:53 AM

I’d like a less anarchial approach to the handling of javascript - some way of registering a javascript library with MODx, so that when e.g. QuickEdit needs mootools, it could first check if this was already loaded by the template. Instead of having multiple versions of the libraries loaded. QE may be a moot point, since users won’t notice this, but still...

That’d be cool!
Hey Jason, will that be possible on 0.9.7?

Quote from: tjalve at Aug 20, 2007, 05:53 AM

And is there some general encouragement towards ONE library used by MODx? So that snippet developers would try to use the same library? Javascript is becoming such a vital part of many modern websites, it could be good to have some strategy in place. At least for an unstructured mind as mine

I don’t see that happening anytime soon. There are some really great JS libraries out there each with benefits, drawbacks, learning curves, etc... I for example am most comfortable with jQuery. There is nothing wrong with the other libraries, it’s just that jQuery clicks for me and the things I want to do are easy for me to do with it. I tried mootools, prototype, and YUI, but there were different things about each of those libs that just wouldn’t work the way I wanted them to. Other developers are going to feel passionate for their favorite too, so until there is just one library available, I don’t think that there will be just one used by MODx. Sorry :’(

-sD-
Dr. Scotty Delicious, Scientist DFPA.