Google Releases Closure JavaScript Tools For Building Slick Interfaces
Now, you can do the same crazy user interface stuff Google does on sites like Gmail and Google Docs on your own website.
The company announced it is releasing its Closure toolset under and open-source license on Thursday. The core pieces are the��Closure Library, which contains the actual scripts themselves, the��Closure Compiler, which optimizes and compresses the JavaScript code and the��Closure Templates, which are pre-built templates for elements you can snap together to build your website’s interface. There’s also a JavaScript inspector.
It’s often hard to remember, but when Gmail first arrived on the scene in 2004, it was something entirely new. Ajax wasn’t as widely used yet, and Gmail showed off what a JavaScript-powered web app could do in a simple and straightforward way. Not only was it a great productivity tool, but the way it refreshed and allowed drag-and-drop seemed, to many of us, like magic. It turned the webmail inbox — and the web app rule book — upside down.
You can go to Google’s Code blog to read about Closure’s release, inspect the license and download the tools.
From the post:
Closure Compiler, Closure Library, Closure Templates, and Closure Inspector all started as��20% projects��and hundreds of Googlers have contributed thousands of patches. Today, each Closure Tool has grown to be a key part of the JavaScript infrastructure behind web apps at Google. ��That’s why we’re particularly excited (and humbled) to open source them to encourage and support web development outside Google. We want to hear what you think, but more importantly, we want to see what you make. So have at it and have fun!
