YUI 2.4.0

[Fergus Sullivan]

In my experience, Flash components are best seen as an optional  
extra, with a graceful failover to non-Flash equivalents.  There will  
always be devices and OSes that don't have adequate support for Flash  
and Bugzilla should absolutely continue to support those.

That said, I'd hate to see any application avoid *optional* use of  
newer technologies where those technologies add value.  To give a  
related example, take a look at Yahoo's newest Flash version of stock  
quote charts.  Notice that you can drag the chart to change its date  
range.  You can mouse over to get details, including time-stamped  
news articles.  I'd argue that this adds enormous benefits.
http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=YHOO

Of course, a lot of this can also be done with AJAXy goodness and  
DHTML.  I'd never argue that there's one right answer in the Flash  
versus DHTML debate.  However I do know that many providers of image- 
heavy dynamic web apps, Yahoo included, tend to find that DHTML  
consumes significantly more server and client resource than does  
Flash.  Full featured web apps like Yahoo Maps have recently shifted  
from DHTML to Flash. My team owns a huge corporate Bugzilla instance  
- 1.6 million bugs, 8,000 daily users, 10 servers.  For us,  
performance is everything.

It seems to me that the one deficiency Bugzilla really suffers from  
is a lack of 'sexiness'.  Every week or two I have users coming to me  
suggesting we shift to Jira, Trac, Fogbugz, or whatever else is  
perceived as sexy.  In many ways, they have a point.  We're still  
very table-centric, very synchronous, and our back end is not exactly  
a model of oo-goodness. I'd hate for any of us to have to put on a  
marketing hat, but if we do we need to look at why people go for the  
new kids on the block instead of Bugzilla.  A more dynamic front-end  
would go a long way to addressing that.

As to missing features in any YUI modules, please either let me know  
or chase the YUI guys directly via their website's preferred  
channels.  I sit 20 meters from them and always find them super- 
responsive to requests.  Heretofore, they've always been JS/CSS/DHTML  
centric, but earlier this year they hired five Flash guys.  What  
you're seeing in YUI 2.4.0 is the first generation of Flash  
offerings.  Features such as 'save image as...' may well be  
legitimate enhancement requests.

   /ferg

-- 
fergus sullivan | developer tools team, yahoo! inc | fergus at yahoo- 
inc.com | o. 408.349.6807 | m. 408.203.FERG

On Dec 4, 2007, at 7:20 PM, Max Kanat-Alexander wrote:

>
> 	YUI 2.4.0 came out today:
>
> 	http://yuiblog.com/blog/2007/12/04/yuii-240/
>
> 	I was thinking that it might be cool to replace our current
> GD-generated Charts and Graphs with the new YUI Chart control. It does
> require Flash, but I would be OK with requiring Flash to see charts.
>
> 	YUI 2.4.0 also comes with some improvements to the Calendar,
> which is the only part we currently use, so I'll probably upgrade tip
> to YUI 2.4.0 some time soon.
>
> 	-Max
> -- 
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