opinion of Mootools. Mootools like all open source projects is only
as strong as its user base. By helping to educate your users you
If people are complaining about the design of the site... listen.
If they are complaining about the removal of the forums... listen.
If they want more demos... listen.
If there are undocumented methods... document them.
decide to use a less elegant javascript framework (ahem... Prototype).
> The trouble is Tom all you're really achieving now is development for
> yourselves. Users and developers have been alienated, information is
> difficult to find and help is not forthcoming. If you're happy writing
> code for yourself that's fine but until you start viewing your users
> with a degree of respect instead of an obvious contempt your
> 'framework' will go nowhere.
>
> (I use 'framework' loosely as the core alters radically without
> backward compatibility).
>
> In my opinion many of Mootools decisions appear to be incredibly
> naive
>
> On Sep 17, 1:16 am, Tom Occhino <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > I'm writing this post to the mailing list to inform the MooTools
> > community about what the developers have been doing these days, and
> > what is to come for the framework. We are all getting tired of
> > answering the same questions over and over again, so I hope this
> > clears some things up and we can stop seeing the same thing, over and
> > over and over again in the mailing list.
>
> > 1. What's up with the site?
>
> > Many of you think we discarded the old MooTools site in exchange for a
> > bland boring alternative. The reason we've upgraded the site to the
> > new beautiful, simple, not-flashy-at-all site is because we want
> > people to understand what MooTools is before they attempt to use it.
> > We love the new site, and it's exactly what we want it to be. The old
> > site did not convey the right image for the framework. MooTools was
> > never meant to be a script that you drop in and paste some code from
> > an example to add some crazy effects to your site, even though you
> > know nothing about JavaScript. It is a framework for javascript
> > developers. If that makes us sound eliteist, well then so be it, but
> > understand that's not our goal. That being said, we also understand
> > that no matter what we tell anyone, we cant force them to learn
> > anything, and many people will use the tools we develop the wrong
> > way... that's fine, they are open source for a reason.
>
> > 3. What's up with the forum?
>
> > We like the mailing list format a lot better, as it's what all
> > developers around the world use, and we can view it from our own mail
> > clients at our leisure. Please stop asking us to bring the forum
> > back, or feel free to switch to another framework that provides their
> > users with an official bulletin-board like forum software... (keep in
> > mind, all other frameworks, including jQuery use a mailing list. None
> > have an official forum, and none of their users complain about it)
>
> > That being said, there are other solutions. If you've never heard of
> > Nabble, check it out.
http://n2.nabble.com/MooTools-Users-> > f660466.html It's basically a forum interface for the mailing list.
> > Also, the guys over at mooforum.net are doing a great job, better than
> > we could ever have done with the mootools forum, so sign up there and
> > use it instead of the mailing list if you wish.
>
> > To the developers and moderators at mooforum.net, if you ever need
> > anything, or think there is an important post any of the MooTools
> > developers should check out, please let me know via email, and i will
> > get right back to you. Thanks for all your hard work over there, we
> > all appreciate it.
>
> > 2. What's up with the blog?
>
> > Valerio and I have spent this entire week since Fronteers 2008 (more
> > on that in a minute) working on the new MooTools blog. Mephisto has
> > given us tons of problems, and cannot be styled properly like the rest
> > of the site so we had to ditch it. This was no easy task, but as soon
> > as it is done, (by the end of this week) I myself and the other
> > developers will be posting to it regularly with more updates / useful
> > information. We are actually ditching all the subdomains for simpler
> > alternatives, and a faster, less problematic site. Check for updates
> > at mootools.net later this week.
>
> > 3. Fronteers what?
>
> > Last week I spoke at a conference in Amsterdam called Fronteers about
> > Object Oriented Design in JavaScript, and how we use some principles
> > in MooTools. Valerio attended the conference with me, and while we
> > were there, we talked about MooTools... a lot.
>
> > 4. What about other frameworks?
>
> > As the other speakers / developers at Fronteers and i chatted about,
> > we are all on the same team! We love the other frameworks, and the
> > contributions they make to the JavaScript community, and we want all
> > of you to also. We are not competing with any of them. If you think
> > jQuery is better suited for your current project, by all means, use
> > it! It is a well tested, well rounded framework. I also want the
> > framework wars to stop. If the developers are all cool with each
> > other, then so should the users be. No more bashing other frameworks,
> > okay everyone?
>
> > 5. What's next?
>
> > We are working to release 1.2.1 very very soon. The biggest issues
> > that need to be addressed lie in Class.js, but for anyone who has
> > looked at and understood the code, it's not exactly trivial stuff. I
> > have been working on rewriting Class.js to work again in Safari2, and
> > work in Opera without an ugly hack. I'll let you know when we are
> > finished and everything is tested. 1.2.1 will also contain many other
> > bug fixes, and at this point, will be a drop in replacement for 1.2.
> > There is one Reqeust issue which im looking into that might require us
> > to make a minor change to the API. If this does happen, I will let
> > you know how to address the minor change when we release.
>
> > After 1.2.1, we will be developing MooTools 1.3. If there are any
> > other changes we decide must be released, we may release one or two
> > more minor releases, but we will decide if they are necessary as we
> > develop. 1.3 will include a few new features, though we havent
> > decided on them definitely yet. I will make some blog posts about new
> > stuff as it's finished, and when you can expect to start using it.
>
> > If the blog was live, i would have made this a post, but i figure this
> > is good enough to give the MooTools users a little official insight
> > into what's been going on, and what's happening. If there are any
> > other questions that i didnt answer here, let me know and i'll address
> > those too.
>
> > Thanks all, and happy moo-ing,
> > - Tom Occhino
