Where should osCMax be heading for the next release?

[ridexbuilder]

This osCommerce mod has now been ported to osCMax, as a new Project.
PGMarshall has suggested using MOOTools instead of the standard popup - good scheme. (I hate the standard scabby popup with a passion.)
I need to concentrate on an Individual Shipping bug at present but hope to return to the Estimator soon.
Any thoughts on the use of MOOTools from the rest of 'the community'? If using for Shipping Estimator, then it might as well be used in place of Slimbox2 in image expansion and reduce the number of extensions that are loaded?

In my eyes, the Shipping Estimator is key to customer experience on the site. It gives an opportunity to see the total cost, prior to adding things to a cart/creating an account. Less for Recover Carts to do.
Hope it helps some...

EJ

[met00]

We can get into flame wars on adding UI and javascript, but before we do, may I suggest that mixing and matching prototype,mootools,jquery,yahoo, etc is something we would want to avoid.

Google has made the decision to go jquery.
Microsoft has made the decision to go jquery (yes, really!)

So, before we get the horse too far ahead of the cart, maybe the issue should be discussed among the community on what toolset we should lean towards for UI/ajax/etc.

As I have been spending a great deal of time in jquery I can see some of the advantages to it, and can see why Google and M$oft have both moved that way. So, before we jump all over mixing and matching, maybe it would be best if the community and the major developers (pg, you, michael, jpf (if he ever surfaces), and maybe even me ) make a judgment call on what the primary javascript/ui/ajax library will be and see if we can all stick to one when we update the application set.

Just my never ending supply of $0.02.

[michael_s]

I am leaning heavily toward jquery. I have been using it a lot in other applications and the more I use it, the more convinced I become that this is the way to go.

[met00]

Like I said, when Google and M$oft both agree on something, it's going to be the standard

Microsoft Ajax CDN : The Official Microsoft ASP.NET Site
Developer's Guide - Google AJAX Libraries API - Google Code

As you can see, Google has attempted to remain agnostic, but the move my M$oft is somewhat "big news" as they seem to have adopted it rather than remain agnostic (and/or closed).

jquery's biggest issue is the $. This means that if we use any other toolsets (like prototype) we have to turn off standard jquery handling and precede all jquery calls with longhand notation (a real PITA). So, while it can be done, it's a pain and we would be best served by a wide agreement on adoption of one standard and attempting to work within that standard.

Again, just one developers opinion (sort of like making the decision to go with BTS or STS, sometimes you have to make a hard call that you will end up living with for a long time... you just hope you make the right one).

[pgmarshall]

I am also leaning towards jQuery but there are a number of MooTool scripts which are really nice to have and since you CAN run both at the same time by preceding the calls with "jQuery. " ...

I think it would be best if the osCMax community do implement jQuery (we kind of already have with Slimbox2) that all source code should have the jQuery prefix. (It is bit like making sure we have used <?php not <?. )

I have a mixture on my site which can get complicated making sure the scripts are called in the correct order ... but there do not appear to be any conflicts.

Slimbox2 - jQuery
Show/Hide Cart - jQuery
Slideshow - MooTools
qscroller - MooTools
jqzoom - jQuery
Admin Help - jQuery

I searched for ages to find a horizontal jQuery scroller to use instead of the MooTools one ... but in some cases there simply is no alternative ... and I can not face rewriting the code for a different UI.

When I have tried Prototype and script.aculo.us with jQuery they do not play nice!

Well - that is my £0.02 worth!

[pgmarshall]

If we are going to open the debate about which library to use then I think we should also discuss what other functionality osCMax needs ...

For example, SpiffyCalc which is in admin/includes/javascript is 141kb and looks pretty average these days!

This one sits on jQuery with the jQuery UI added ...

Datepicker

Any thoughts on what else needs a refresh ...

[met00]

I am currently playing with using jquery to change the page load order (as I have mentioned before) so that headers and sideboxes are in a set of divs that actually load AFTER the main page content. This will place the main page content to the front of the stream being sent to the user, which when sent to bots, like googlebot, will increase the contents ranking of importance (and thus SEO the pages naturally).

And while it's true that you can make everyone play nice by using longhand, I would much prefer to play in a single playground whenever possible. Imagine if the core was in PHP and Python. Yes, you could make it all play nice, but why?

As for potential replacement scripts for mootools...

jquery qscroller... - Image scroll
jquery slideshows - Top 14 jQuery Photo Slideshow / Gallery Plugins | Chicago Web Design

[ridexbuilder]

Wish I'd used a different title for the post. Any chance of changing it?

Don't consider m'self a developer - Systems Integrator/Facilitator. I can usually debug a bit but as far as coding from scratch....

Haven't a clue about the nuances of the different libraries. I just know that Slimbox is a lightweight alternative to Lightbox and simple to replace it. [Even though it lacks in terms of parameter passing] As long a the syntax is fairly easy to grasp, then I don't care too much about what is used.

I thought it valid to discuss the growing number of alternatives, as more features are appearing for 'Max. No need for flamin' wars, just constructive argument.
I'd still prefer a code freeze, module update and code cleanup. Sort out the current mess, prior to moving on.

EJ

[pgmarshall]

Saw that image scroller on my search! But if you have a look at my demo site you will see it is not simply scrolling the images ...

Demo

Would love to switch it to jQuery since it would save me 70kb on the load!

Regards,

[met00]

So, what you really want is a "div" scroller, where you can load a series of div's into a scroller and scroll the divs?