John Resig Speaks on Future Directions for jQuery

Posted by Nick Laiacona on May 08, 2008 04:06 PM

jQuery creator and Mozilla Javascript Evangelist John Resig recently posted a video presentation outlining future release plans for the jQuery project and highlighting some exciting new Javascript features that will be coming soon to browsers. Here are some of the highlights of his presentation:
jQuery Core

jQuery 1.2.4 is scheduled for release in mid-May. It will include the Dimensions plugin as part of jQuery Core. This popular plugin provides cross-browser compatible methods of dealing with the dimensions of page elements. jQuery 1.2.4 will also include speed optimizations for event handling methods. John Resig reports that drag-and-drop operations are now 3x faster in the new version. jQuery 1.3 is the next planned for this summer and will include speed improvements to the Selector Engine and DOM Manipulation. The jQuery project is also planning a live conference for this fall.
jQuery UI 1.5

jQuery UI 1.5 will be a complete overhaul from jQuery UI 1.0 both in features and API. It will be accompanied by new documentation, demos, and a brand new website. A new sub-library called Enchant is in the works which will be a full set of animations and effects that integrates seamlessly with jQuery.
Upcoming Javascript Features

Resig then outlined a number of interesting Javascript features in the works at Mozilla and other browser manufacturers:

* Speed improvements are coming in two commonly used methods: getElementsByClassName() in Firefox 3 and Safari and querySelectorAll() in Safari, Opera, and IE 8 and Firefox.
* ARIA Accessible Ajax is a coming standard which will allow Javascript developers to directly command the user's screen reader. A lack of screen reader accessibility is a common criticism of AJAX enabled applications.
* CSS 3 is coming to fruition and browsers are finally getting solid implementations of its feature set.
* postMessage() from HTML 5 specification will allow users to communicate across domains to allow for secure cross domain communications.
* Native JSON support is coming in Firefox 3, Javascript 1.9. This will allow faster serialization and de-serialization of JSON objects.
* Function.prototype.bind() will provide built in language support for binding functions with objects.
* ISO Date() parsing will provide a cleaner way to deal with dates that works on both the browser and the server.

Appeal to Standards Bodies

Resig caps off his presentation with an appeal to standards bodies. He says that they need to take more of a cue from the Javascript libraries and formalize proven features from the library space, while maintaining usability. He also makes an appeal for browser makers to come together around a standard codex for the <audio> and <video> tags.

 

Query 作者和Mozilla JavaScript传道者John Resig 近日在一次视频演示 中为大家描绘了jQuery项目未来的发布计划，并强调了即将出现在浏览器中的激动人心的JavaScript新特性。下面是演示中的一些亮点：

jQuery 核心

jQuery 1.2.4计划在五月中旬发布。这次新的内核中将包括尺寸插件 。 这个流行的插件提供了一些跨浏览器兼容的方法，来处理页面元素的尺寸问题。jQuery1.2.4还将包括对事件处理方法的加速优化。Jhon Resig的报告还提到新版的拖放（Drag and drop）的性能将有三倍的提升。jQuery1.3版本计划在今年夏天发布，包括对选择器引擎（Selector Engine）和DOM操控处理的速度提升。jQuery项目还计划在今年秋天举行一次现场的技术大会。

jQuery UI 1.5

jQuery UI 1.5将会是在jQuery UI 1.0的特性和API之上一次彻底的升级。它将会带有新文档、演示以及完全崭新的站点。其中包含一个新的叫做Enchant的子库，它将是一个可以和jQuery无缝集成的完整的动画和特效集合。

Javascript的新特性

Resig接着列出了大量在Mozila和其他浏览器厂商的工作中完成的非常有趣的JavaScript特性：

• 对两个经常使用的方法的速度提升：Firefox 3和Safari中的getElementsByClassName()和Safari、Opera、IE 8和Firefox支持的querySelectorAll()。
• ARIA 可访问Ajax即将成为，它将允许Javascript开发者直接控制用户的屏幕阅读器（user's screen reader）。 jAjax应用程序常常因缺少屏幕阅读器而遭人诟病。
• CSS 3即将完成。浏览器最终将实现对它的全部特性的支持。
• HMTL 5规范中postMessage()将允许用户进行安全的跨域通讯。
• Firefox 3和JavaScript1.9将提供原生JSON的支持。这将更快地实现JSON对象的序列化和反序列化。
• Function.prototype.bind()将为绑定函数到对象提供语言级别的内建支持。
• ISO Date()解析将提供一种更干净的方式来处理浏览器和服务器上的日期。
  

呼吁标准体

Resig在报告结束时呼吁建立标准体（Standards Bodies）。他说他们应该在保持可使用性的同时，参照更多的JavaScript库，并将库空间中已确认的特性正式化。他还呼吁浏览器厂商一起来为 <audio>和<video>标签定义标准的规范。

查看英文原文： John Resig Speaks on Future Directions for jQuery and Javascript

source:http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/05/resig-video