Which jQuery multimedia plugin? - image

I'm looking for a plugin to display images and videos in a Lightbox style. It should support the various formats, both in the local server and remote, such as from Youtube. Now I'm using CeeBox [http://catcubed.com/2008/12/23/ceebox-a-thickboxvideobox-mashup], but it supports only .swf videos. Making some web searches, I've found
prettyPhoto and YoxView which are both interesting.
Could you suggest me which one of these two plugins is better or another one?
Thanks

FlowPlayer, as long as other JQuery Tools projects is a great tool

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Are there any advanced apps that are built using fabric js?

I got lots of simple apps or examples that are built using Fabric.js.
Can I use Fabric.js for making advanced applications? I want to check some apps and see it's performance so that I would confirm that Fabric.js can handle big apps too.
We built Fabric specifically to power design editor on Printio.ru. It's used by 1000+ visitors daily.
From other big sites there's easel.ly — visual themes creation tool. Also mywallsticker.de, scrollkit.com, and others.
Large sites that using FabricJS are listed here https://github.com/kangax/fabric.js/wiki/Who%27s-using-Fabric
http://printio.ru/ is the one of best one, what kind of advance apps you are looking for ?
check out the discussion on google groups
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/fabricjs
you will get some idea

jQueryMobile on Zepto.js?

I'm wondering if someone has tried already to port jQueryMobile on top of Zepto.js (http://zeptojs.com/) instead of the required jQuery?
The main feature of Zepto.js over jQuery is its file size of ~10kb (minified, not gzipped) instead of jQuery's ~80kb. If you were to replace jQuery wuth Zepto.js then you'd still have to include jQuery mobile, which weighs in about 95kb (JS & CSS).
jQuery and jQuery mobile: 175kb
Zepto.js and jQuery mobile: 115kb
You'd save about 1/3rd of the download weight (not including HTML, images and other JS), making making a port of jQuery Mobile to Zepto.js unlikely to be worth the time.
Zepto.js currently also only supports WebKit browsers, meaning you'd be loosing support of Firefox Mobile and IE7&9 Mobile too.
Update: Zepto now supports a lot more platforms.
dave1010 makes good points.
You may also be interested in a back & forth between the creator of Zepto (madrobby) and jQuery (John Resig) on Hacker News
I think it's simply to early for that. jQuery Mobile hasn't seen an official release yet (only alpha2) and zepto.js is also still in its infancy.
Furthermore, zepto.js states "[...] that emulation of all features of jQuery is not a project goal", they just want to emulate the most useful parts. With this direction it is questionable if zepto.js can ever serve as a drop-in-replacement for jQuery in the mobile context.
However, a possible success of zepto.js could inspire the jQuery team... maybe we will soon see a "jQuery for Chrome Smartphones" build that has all IE/Firefox/Opera stuff compiled out.
jqtouch already support zeptojs, you may want to give it a try.
I started on a web project and I really, rally wanna use Zepto, but the current users developing for Zepto is really low. Not a big community, not to many plugins and I don't see why not using google's CDN for jQuery.
Zepto is great for senior JavaScript developers maybe.

What Software Do You Use To Create Sitemaps / Site Structure For Large Sites?

Just wondering what software you use to create a visual sitemap / site structure representation before you start big sites?
I am looking to map out a large site, but cannot find any good software to help me map the site visually (And in pages/categories)..
Maybe SketchFlow http://electricbeach.org/?p=145 ? which is included in the Expression Blend Trial http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92E1DB7A-5D36-449B-8C6B-D25F078F3609&displaylang=en
I strongly suggest taking a look at this tool: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups
The Balsamiq tool is the best for doing mockups (i assume this is what you are referring too when talking about sitemaps before you start...). With this software you can quickly generate a working wireframe of what ever you are creating. So much functionality that you can actually share it with your client to get some good sign offs prior to typing the first bit of code.
Very powerful!
And the other one...just shown at the last MIX09 is SketchFlow. Couldn't remember it to save my life. This is a WAY COOL tool for site maps and UI mock up. I was trying to find you the actual MIX presentation as it is super cool to watch. But here are some YouTube videos of that presentation from a user perspective I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAZjb7FKXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ErrS68YMM
Check it out!
update...found the SketchFlow video!!! http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/C01F
Great keynote from there too: http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/KEY01
I know this is an old question, but for others who find this via search, I personally love mocking my websites up with mind mapping tools. I've tried several but my favorite was MindNode for Mac and Xmind for Windows.
XMind free download:
http://www.xmind.net/
MindNode free download:
https://mindnode.com/
I've also tried MindMeister which works just as well as other mind mapping tools and is hosted for you so you can access your mind maps anywhere. However, MindMeister only allows you three maps (currently) without upgrading to a paid subscription.
Another that I've worked with is mockflow.com which is great for mocking up websites with all their features and buttons and even making clickable navigation. They have a free version, but again it's very limited without upgrading to a paid version.
I'm using Slickplan. This cloud based app allows me to have access to my projects from different machines regardless of their operating systems. All I need is one of the leading web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
With Slickplan you can create visual sitemaps from scratch or you can use Site Crawler to import your existing website to visualize and reorganize its structure.
Of course you can always export your projects to the XML format, and use the exported file to create pages and menu systems inside some popular content management system - Slickplan provides plugins for WordPress, Joomla, concrete5 and a few more.

How to Programmatically take Snapshot of Crawled Webpages (in Ruby)?

What is the best solution to programmatically take a snapshot of a webpage?
The situation is this: I would like to crawl a bunch of webpages and take thumbnail snapshots of them periodically, say once every few months, without having to manually go to each one. I would also like to be able to take jpg/png snapshots of websites that might be completely Flash/Flex, so I'd have to wait until it loaded to take the snapshot somehow.
It would be nice if there was no limit to the number of thumbnails I could generate (within reason, say 1000 per day).
Any ideas how to do this in Ruby? Seems pretty tough.
Browsers to do this in: Safari or Firefox, preferably Safari.
Thanks so much.
This really depends on your operating system. What you need is a way to hook into a web browser and save that to an image.
If you are on a Mac - I would imagine your best bet would be to use MacRuby (or RubyCocoa - although I believe this is going to be deprecated in the near future) and then to use the WebKit framework to load the page and render it as an image.
This is definitely possible, for inspiration you may wish to look at the Paparazzi! and webkit2png projects.
Another option, which isn't dependent on the OS, might be to use the BrowserShots API.
There is no built in library in Ruby for rendering a web page.
Using Selenium & Ruby is one possibility. You can run Firefox as a headless browser (ie on a server).
Here is the source code for browser shots. http://sourceforge.net/projects/browsershots/files/
If you are using Linux you could use http://khtml2png.sourceforge.net/ and script it via Ruby.
Some paid services to try and automate
http://webthumb.bluga.net/home
http://www.thumbalizr.com
as viewed by.... ie? firefox? opera? one of the myriad webkit engines?
if only it were possible to automate http://browsershots.org :)
Use selenium-rc, it comes with snapshot capabilities.
With jruby you can use SWT's browser library.

What programming language is required to create a Firefox plugin?

What are the minimum programming requirements to create a Firefox plugin?
You need to learn XUL for the UI and Javascript for the programming.
more infos here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developing_add-ons
Firefox plugins (such as things like Flash player) are binary components you develop in NPAPI the cross-browser API for plugins.
Check out Mozilla Plugin Developer Center
You might also look into Firefox Extensions sometimes Firefox plugins are shipped as extensions. Firefox extensions modify or enhance the functionality of the browser itself. Javascript is primarily the language you'll be writing a Firefox plugin.
Check out the Mozilla Extensions Developer Center
Some Firefox plugins that come in handy when developing Firefox plugins are the Venkman Javascript Debugger and Firebug Javascript debugger
If you are into an organized style of reading, and prefer an good ol' book, start here.
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Firefox-Building-Internet-Applications/dp/0596102437
It will get you started on the basics on XUL, which is in turn used to build the addons. If you have a touch in javascript, it will definitely help you.
Else,
Start here.
https://developer.mozilla.org/En
You can start learning what all you will need to start developing firefox addons, or even firefox itself.
If you are fairly proficient in Javascript and DOM, then, just jump here.
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developing_add-ons.
The only problem might be, they are as not comprehensive for a newbie programmer. If you have some professional background in programming, and can pick up a language from sample codes, then start here.
But I would definitely suggest a well organized book, like I mentioned above. There are very few XUL book in the market, this was my first google result, so just linked it here.
Search for XUL on http://www.amazon.com/.Choose one, atleast a book published after 2006-07.
[edit]
Just found out this good article
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Getting_started_with_extension_development
There seems to be a huge misunderstanding here; Are you trying to create a plugin or an extension? As Dougnukem stated, plugins have nothing to do with XUL or extensions. They are shared libraries (.dll, .so, or .dylib for win, linux, mac) that provide functionality that the browser isn't capable of alone.
If you're just getting started, I'd recommend looking at the FireBreath plugin framework and reading through some documentation. A decent place to start is: http://colonelpanic.net/2009/03/building-a-firefox-plugin-part-one/
Also, you still haven't selected an answer for this question; is that because you haven't found an answer yet, or because you've forgotten?
Advanced DOM, the Firefox API

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