Friday, August 1, 2008

JavaFX Preview SDK is finally out!

I'm pleased to announce to you that the preview release of the JavaFX SDK is out for early adopters to try out. Go to www.javafx.com to check it out. This preview was developed to empower users proficient in web scripting technologies (such as HTML, CSS, AJAX, JavaScript and ActionScript) to create connected applications that run in standard web browsers as well as on the desktop, as described on their website. Very good direction I must say. We've waited long enough for this.
There are some issues I'm not comfortable with while browsing the JavaFX website which I believe Sun should address.They need to still work on the site to enable we the users to get a better experience in interacting with the website. Some of the most essential features that need to be worked on for now is the way content is being loaded, create a smoother transition of the lightweight panels, and browser history needs to be supported. I see no advantage the users derive when you put AJAX, and nifty Javascript effects to use, but use it wrongly. While the user is viewing a particular section, the content of subsequent pages that the user might want to be should be loaded while the user is busy on this page, so that when the want to proceed elsewhere, the content is immediately shown if it has already been preloaded instead of showing us a useless throbber. Secondly, going back to a previously visited page involves showing the throbber again, and requesting for the same information from the server. This shouldn't be. One thing I seem to have noticed about Sun (correct me if I'm wrong), is that they tend to put people who are not skilled at working perfectly well with a technology work to do with that technology; that's why we've been having crappy look-and-feels since the onset of Java civilization. When developers become designers, what do you expect? But even that notwithstanding, I believe they should look into the issues I've raised. I can see that Mootools was used for the nifty effects, I urge you to please optimize the code to make it faster for the users; this is because the transitions are not smooth. The internal scrollbar too doesn't respond well to mouse scrolling.
Overall, I'm impressed that the Preview SDK is out so that early adopters like us can try it out to see if there's a future for it in our workflow.

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