Javascript done right - Open Web Camp III

Dirk Ginader | Yahoo! Inc.Javascript done right @ginader

What is “good” Javascript?• From a User Perspective?

What is “good” Javascript?• From a User Perspective: – THEY DON’T CARE!* *as long as it works...

What is “good” Javascript?• From a Developer Perspective?

What is “good” Javascript?• From a Developer Perspective: – understandable – reusable – extensible – optimized – secure – internationalized – optional – accessible

Understandable• don’t be “too clever”

Understandable• not everybody understands: – Ternary: • var d = (x < m) ? l : r;

Understandable• not everybody understands: – Regex: • ^(([A-Za-z0-9]+_+)|([A-Za-z0-9]+-+)|([A-Za- z0-9]+.+)|([A-Za-z0-9]+++))*[A-Za- z0-9]+@((w+-+)|(w+.))*w{1,63}.[a-zA-Z] {2,6}$

Understandable• not everybody understands: – Shakespeare: • /(bb|[^b]{2})/

Understandable• If there’s no good way around cleverness then: – good naming – documentation

for more WTF check• http://wtfjs.com

Understandable -> Documented• Writing Docs isn’t fun• Reading Code you wrote 5 years ago and didn’t document is worse...• Reading undocumented code someone else wrote even more so...

Understandable -> Documented• use clear variable and function names: – a = b(c) // Whut? – user = getUserOfProduct(productId) // Alright!• good comments – // IE seems to break here... – // dirty hack. This must never go live! – // this works. No idea why. Better don’t touch.

Understandable -> Documented• exceptionally good comments: – YUI Doc: http://developer.yahoo.com/ yui/yuidoc/ – creates the YUI API Dos automatically – simple Javadoc syntax /** * short description * @method methodName * @param {bool} * @returm {type} */

Understandable -> Documented• YUI Doc now even prettier thanks to Carlo & Dana: http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/ 2010/10/01/yuidoc-dana-theme/

Understandable -> Structured• HTML – Markup• CSS – Design• Javascript – Interaction

Understandable -> Structured• CSS for Javascript – <script> document.documentElement.className += js; </script> <style> .module{ /* with JS */ } .js .module{ /* without JS */ } </style>

Understandable -> Structured• HTML for Javascript – Mustache Templating Partials for Ajax content – /partials/login_success.html – Hello {{user_name}} You have sucesfully registered Your currently have {{user_points}} points – { user_name : “dude”, user_points : 123 } – http://mustache.github.com/

Reusable• find patterns• largest common denominator• when you’re writing a new dropdown menu every month something is very wrong...• write ONE dropdown menu and keep making it better

Reusable• open source != “I’m giving it away for free”• open source == “I get free testers, co-developers, fame and fortune”• github is full of excellent code• “FORK OFF” - make it better!• a plugin for an existing library is a great start

Reusable• How do you write Javascript? – jQuery, YUI and alike? – all “pure”?

Reusable• You’re using and understand just one Javascript Framework? – learn Javascript! – look under the hood – understand Errors

Reusable• You don’t use Frameworks? – you should!

Reusable• Javascript Frameworks/Libraries help to – not reinvent the wheel all over again – keep Code fresh – secure quality – write modular applications rather than “scripts”

Reusable• “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”• “Zwerge auf den Schultern von Riesen”• “nanos gigantium humeris insidentes”

Extensible•What is the most popular about jQuery? - THE PLUGINS! $.fn.extend({ accessibleTabs: function(config) { return this.each(function() { //... } } }); $(".tabs").accessibleTabs();

Extensible• Everything can have plugins!• Tiny Form Validation script: addValidator : function(name,func){ this.validators[name] = func; } this.addValidator(isText,function(el){ var filter = /^[a-zA-Z ]+$/; return filter.test(el.get(value)); }); if( !this.validators[isText](el) ){ //error!}

Extensible•Extending something out there instead of writing it all over again•Being prepared for demands that are not yet known

Optimized for Development• Good Development Code != good Production Code• Good for Development: – granular code split over many files • module / config / i18n / init / etc – many comments – examples

Optimized for Production• Good Development Code != good Production Code• Good for Production: – code combined into as few files as possible – comments and whitespace removed – optional code-minification

Optimized for Production• YUI Compressor http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/ compressor/• Google Closure Compiler http://code.google.com/closure/ compiler/

Optimized for Performance• Caching of DOM-accesses var el = document.getElementById(bla);• CSS is MUCH faster than JS when it’s about changing the DOM el.addClass(bla); instead of el.css({ width:20px, height:20px, ... });

Optimized for Performance• reduce “reflows” after every DOM-manipulation the Browser needs to rerender!• Changing CSS is usually faster than changing the DOM $(<style type="text/css"> a { color: red; } </ style>).appendTo(head);

Optimized for Performance• changing the DOM using: – classic DOM Methods: el = document.getElementById(list); l1 = document.createElement(li); t1 = document.createTextNode(hello 1); l2 = document.createElement(li); t2 = document.createTextNode(hello 2); l3 = document.createElement(li); t3 = document.createTextNode(hello 3); l1.appendChild(t1); l2.appendChild(t2); l3.appendChild(t3); el.appendChild(t1).appendChild(t2).appendChild(t3);

Optimized for Performance• changing the DOM using: – innerHTML: el = document.getElementById(list); li = <li>hallo 1</li>; li += <li>hallo 2</li>; li += <li>hallo 3</li>; el.innerHTML = li; – faster than DOM-Methods (thanks to IE)

Optimized for Performance• changing the DOM using: – innerHTML: el = document.getElementById(list); li = []; li.push(<li>hallo 1</li>); li.push(<li>hallo 2</li>); li.push(<li>hallo 3</li>); el.innerHTML = li.join(); – even faster because string concatenation in IE is slow

Optimized for Performance• changing the DOM using: – innerHTML: el = document.getElementById(list); li = []; li[0] = <li>hallo 1</li>; li[1] = <li>hallo 2</li>; li[2] = <li>hallo 3</li>; el.innerHTML = li.join(); – even faster as also array.push is slow in IE...

Optimized for Performance• changing the DOM using: – DOM Fragment: l = document.getElementById(list); f = document.createDocumentFragment(); l1 = document.createElement(li); t1 = document.createTextNode(hallo 1); ... l1.appendChild(t1); l2.appendChild(t2); l3.appendChild(t3); f.appendChild(l1).appendChild(l2).appendChild(l3); el.appendChild(f); – Even faster! Just 1 DOM access!

Secure• XSS is a massive security issue• never echo user inputs• filter inputs! whitelisting not blacklisting• define data types• trust nothing and nobody• be paranoid...

Secure• Caja http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Caja_project• “virtual iFrames”• no direct access to native objects• Transpiler on the Server• YUI3 1st Javascript Library being compatible

International/Multilingual• UTF-8• RTL/Bidi• If possible reuse strings that are in the HTML already• Use standards – Text {0} more text {1} yet more text {2} Text {0:currency} more text {1:symbol} even more text {2:amount} // {variable:comment}

International/Multilingual• Variable sentence structure requires multi step translation – T_WELCOME : { en_US:”We welcome {0:user}” de_DE:”Wir heissen {0:user} willkommen” } – getText(‘de_DE’,‘T_WELCOME’,{user:”Dude”})• check ISO Standards• HTML in Strings isn’t ideal but better than pseudo code• bold = asian symbols unreadable

International/Multilingual TRANSLATIONS = { // check http://internationalisationtips.com O: "{market} open", OT: "{market} open in {timePeriod}", OE: "{market} open early", OET: "{market} open early in {timePeriod}", OER: "{market} open early for {reason}", OERT: "{market} open early for {reason} in {timePeriod}", OL: "{market} open late", OLT: "{market} open late in {timePeriod}", OLR: "{market} open late for {reason}", OLRT: "{market} open late for {reason} in {timePeriod}", C: "{market} close", CT: "{market} close in {timePeriod}", CE: "{market} close early", CET: "{market} close early in {timePeriod}", CER: "{market} close early for {reason}", CERT: "{market} close early for {reason} in {timePeriod}", CL: "{market} close late", CLT: "{market} close late in {timePeriod}", CLR: "{market} close late for {reason}", CLRT: "{market} close late for {reason} in {timePeriod}", X: "{market} closed"};

Optional• Progressive Enhancement – Base functionality of the site needs to be available even though the user agent does not understand Javascript – Mobile != iPhone (Opera Mini is No.1!) • Search Machines • Paranoid Sysadmins • Y! has ~1% non-js Users -> Millions! • ...

Optional• base page has interaction thanks to: – Links – Forms – (+ everything important is visible!)• With Javascript: – Links that update the page become Buttons – Forms are being processed instantly – Infos can be hidden and shown

Accessible• Tab order is super important• using focus() we can direct the user• tabindex=-1 makes everything focusable (for Javascript)• Ajax works but mind the load time• update Virtual Buffer

Accessible• some Effects can make the JS Version more accessible – yellow fade to temporary highlight what changed – animated open close is easier to understand than a hard show/hide

Accessible• WAI-ARIA – maps UI Elements that are well known on the Desktop to Elements in the Browser – teaches meaning to non-semantic markup

Accessible• WAI-ARIA – proper realtime updates • Live Regions – real Form Validation state • aria-required="true" • aria-invalid="true" – real Dialogs • role="alert"

thank you :-)• http://ginader.com• http://twitter.com/ginader• http://github.com/ginader/• http://www.slideshare.net/ginader• http://speakerrate.com/speakers/ 225-ginader

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Javascript done right - Open Web Camp III

by Dirk Ginader

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Javascript done right - Open Web Camp III Presentation Transcript