Dojo: The Definitive Guide

Preface

Users now demand web applications that look and feel like those of the desktop. Home computers have long since become ubiquitous, web browsers are the enabling platform, and virtually everyone on the planet is a potential end user. Software developers are spending more time than ever getting their applications into the browser for a potential audience of millions—many of them trying to grab a handful of the multibillion dollar advertising wave, while others are capitalizing on the sheer elegance and convenience of an application that is impressive enough that people will be willing to pay for access to it.

Of course, just because the web browser is the enabling platform does not mean that it is the ideal platform—at least not in its current manifestation. Corporate politics, less than uniform implementations of the various specifications for web browser technologies, and a curious evolution of protocols and standards over almost two decades have made deploying an application in the browser a lot more difficult than anyone might have ever predicted.

But in a world where necessity breeds imagination and innovation, there is always hope.

Fortunately, the rich and powerful functionality JavaScript provides makes it possible to manipulate, customize, and augment a web page on the fly, and in doing so, makes it possible to provide a layer of insulation between the developer and the bare metal of the web browsers—even all of them at the same time.

This book is about Dojo, a JavaScript ...