As web content keeps evolving at a rapid pace, developers too are scurrying for new strategies that enable them to stay a step ahead of the competition. Developers are now looking to develop agile, responsive mobile applications as web slowly gives way to mobile. The need for dynamic interfaces was felt as Javascript became increasingly used for the development of UIs for applications with the rise of web 2.0. This gave rise to Javascript libraries such as jsPHP, Ext Core and Prototype. Facilitating easier integration of Javascript with other development technologies required widget libraries and this culminated in the development of opensource toolkits, that were designed for the development of cross-platform JS/Ajax based applications and websites.
These Opensource toolkits are playing a huge part in the development of mobile applications that are defining the next wave of cross-platform applications. The most popular among these has without doubt, been Dojo Mobile. Being an opensource modular Javascript library that enables creation of web apps with a native look and feel on iOS and Android smartphones, Dojo, within 3 years of its creation and 8 version releases, has made itself indispensable to the developer’s armoury.
Dojo erases the differences among different browsers by abstracting them to provide APIs on all browsers and can also run on the server under Node.js. Also, the Dojo AMD loader works extremely well under Node.js, and requires just a little work to start coding in an AMD/Dojo like environment. With server-side Javascript becoming a very reliable option and GitHub repositories with sub-modules that pull elements of Dojo freely available, all you need to do is to get a local source distribution of Dojo Toolkit SDK.
So, What Advantages Does Dojo Actually Bring to the Developer?
• Dojo has been built on HTML and Javascript and ensures that the developer needs to only work with abstractions and not build bottom-up when he starts a project.
• Dojo’s package system ensures that only needed files are included as every Javascript file can be named a package and called back with dojo.provide and dojo.require.
• In the event system, any Document Object Model can be connected to any function with dojo.event. It also has ASLs(Application Support Library) that have routines that provide for AJAX binding,
• Finally, the widget toolkit of Dojo (which is HTML + CSS bound with Javascript) is one of the most effective opensource toolkits available and has many useful widgets such as dialogs, tabs and sorting tables.
The downside of Dojo is that it is a bit heavy and the documentation still narrow for its size. But if you can overcome these seemingly tiny obstacles, then that is just a small price to pay for the multi-browser advantage that Dojo offers.
David Miller Blog 