Dojo : First Impressions

There is a lot of talk about Web 2.0 . Toolkits like Dojo are going to play major role in it. We have already seen awesome applications of AJAX( google maps !) and javascript (http://www.live.com/) to create desktop like web applications.I found Dojo on DeveloperIQ (May 2006) magazine CD.I have been looking for something very similar since long. In fact I was also trying to create simple draggable HTML control.

First , let me admit that Dojo has almost everything I needed. It has a nice library of javascript widgets. My favoirte widget is the 'FloatingPane' that enables you to create a window like container , that is draggable , has minimize/maximize buttons and cool shadows.It can contain more widgets and text.Another awesome widget is 'FisheyeList' .It is basically a toolbar, but when you move your cursor over any icon, the corresponding icon pops out like an fish eye!The tree control in one more interesting control I tried out. There is very scanty documentation available on their web site, more can be expected as the project grows.There is always a way of finding out functionality ......going though the source code !

FloatingPane Widget whit tree control(left) and 'FisheyeList' control in action(right)

Google has just released it AJAX toolkit , which it claims works only with JAVA. Microsoft's ATLAS , I have heard is somewhat coupled with .NET 2.0.What I personally like about Dojo is that it is neutral to server side development enviornment.

The desktop look ! (Dojo widgets on a web page)

Also the toolkit does seem to 'perform' with IE and Firefox .All developers irrespective of language they are developing (JSP,PHP...) can benifit from Dojo.

I personally feel that , with web-development becoming more and more complex , the days of such toolkits have arrived. If you are into serious web-application development and looking for a light-weight, multiple browser compliant, pure JavaScript, standalone toolkit ...then Dojo is
for you!