Archive for May, 2009

Google unveils YouTube demo site with HTML 5 <video> tag support

28May 09

Google’s I/O conference has been going on full steam with lots of new announcements and products from the Google camp. One particular piece of news that struck me with great interest was that Google have released a YouTube demo site which implements the new HTML5 <video> tag. This means native browser playback of video files rather than using the Flash plug-in that the main YouTube site does presently.

Support for this tag is not available in all browsers, but it’s getting there with each new browser release. In theory, native video playback results in better CPU performance versus the use of a plug-in, which is a nice addition to the usual standards argument.

Check the demo site out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/html5

You’ll need a fairly modern browser: Safari 3.1+, Opera 9.52+ or Firefox 3.5+ to view the site correctly. Sorry, IE fans – write to Microsoft about it! Google Chrome users may have to wait until version 3 for support!

Tags: ,
Posted in Web Development

My book has been published! Pro JavaScript RIA Techniques

26May 09

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past couple of months, things have been extremely hectic as I’ve been writing a book in my spare time. I’m really pleased to announce that this book has now been completed and should be on book shelves around the world within the next couple of days.

The topic is building web applications, or RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) using JavaScript. The book is split into three parts:

  1. Best Practices: I reveal how to build upon a solid, maintainable foundation of HTML, CSS and JavaScript to avoid the need for unnecessary complication or development time
  2. Performance: I show you to avoid the pitfalls of building a poorly responsive web application and teach the secrets for keeping it snappy.
  3. Presentation: Web applications that work well are tailored towards the needs of end users. In this section, I explain how to use JavaScript to add a superior user experience to your RIAs.

And the title of the book….?

Pro JavaScript RIA Techniques: Best Practices, Performance, and Presentation.

I’ve created a section of my new site dedicated to the book, explaining what is covered in each chapter, and allowing you to download the source code for the examples within. To discover this and how to buy the book, visit my new site: http://www.denodell.com/

Tags:
Posted in Web Development

Interested in JavaScript and RIAs?

I wrote a book for web developers building RIAs and web applications who need to be sure they are writing high quality and efficient code whilst constructing advanced user experiences.

Read more