By now, if you follow the web development world at least, you’ve probably heard that Google has open sourced a large portion their JavaScript code as a new open source library called Closure. Having been birthed from the team responsible for pioneering much of the way we build web applications today, this is obviously going to attract some attention. SitePoint’s Kevin Yank, for one, has posted a harsh critique of (some might say “attack on”) the code in his article Google Closure: How not to write JavaScript.

Kevin seems to have taken the stance that since Google is so well known they have a responsibility to release nothing but flawless code. That, by open sourcing this library under the Google name, they’re polluting the web with “bad” code developers will flock to blindly due to the weight of the brand. This is, if I may, asinine and smells of the “fanboy” mentality that so many developers fall into when discussing the subject of something like JavaScript libraries.

I’m not here to make the argument that Closure is perfect, or even good. I quite honestly am not fit to judge. I’d rather not know what hoops the core developers of Mootools or Dojo or jQuery had to jump through so that I can make an element fade in smoothly in all major browsers. I’m just happy when it does. I’m also a big fan of many of Google’s services. Products like Gmail, Google Apps and AppEngine have had a significant positive impact on my life and my gratitude, more often than not, insists I give the company the benefit of the doubt in many cases.

Biases aside, the most popular JavaScript libraries all have the advantage of (in some cases many) years of open source development going for them. The framework code has long been massaged and tweaked and put under a microscope by a community of developers. A internal development team, isolated and working under deadlines trying to build something real (like say, Gmail), has to be pragmatic and will never be the ideal source for a highly tuned code base. Google has nothing to lose (except maybe some bad press) by releasing this code to the wolves. With a public repository and the help of other developers, these problems become “issues” and then patches. And, who knows, for every less-than-ideal for-loop, there might be a good idea or two.

Competition has, in many ways, made possible the development of the absolutely stellar JavaScript libraries available to us today. To make the case that Closure will upset that balance brings to mind the current health care debate and the incumbent interests unable to look beyond what they might lose in order to see what could be gained.

I’ve updated the post header case and typeface to match the current Driscoll Design and Development logo. To see the new typeface you either have to be a. viewing this site with one of a select list of modern web browsers (Safari 4, Chrome 2 or Firefox 3.5) that supports the @font-face declaration; or b. have Museo Sans 500 (it’s beautiful AND free) installed on your computer.

In unrelated news, I should soon be starting a new Python project on Google AppEngine that I’ll (hopefully) be able to divulge the details of later. Either way, it looks like a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting to know the people I’ll be working with.

I’ve set up a new Twitter account specifically for Driscoll Design and Development at @driscolldev. I should probably warn you, however, that it’s currently a bit sparse and I’m still trying to decide what, if anything, should be posted there.

If you’ve come across this blog because you’re interested in web design, development, Python, Django, and other such nonsense, you might want to follow my main Twitter account at @jdriscoll.

I’ve updated blog.driscolldev.com with a new, custom Tumblr theme. The text aligns to a baseline grid (I always love that) and I especially like the way the tag (or keywords) list floats to the left of the post. I’ve tested this design in most majors browsers so far with only IE6 experiencing minor issues.

Feel free to send any comments or issues to me at justin@driscolldev.com. I hope you like it.

Bosch Architecture of Portage Michigan knew they needed a new web site. The previous visual design did not reflect the firm’s vision and the content was outdated at best, misleading at worst.

In Theory…

After discussing their goals for the site we decided that intuitive navigation and a clean design that focused on their portfolio of work — with an emphasis on beautiful images — was the best solution. We also agreed that an easy to use content management system, accessible to their employees, would help keep the site fresh and accurate. This would also reduce the pressure on the client’s staff to have all of the final content assembled beforehand.

the main page

The Design

The design of the main page drove the rest of the site. With a neutral grey background, any images they choose to display are more likely to pop while cropping images to a cinema style aspect ratio helps create interest in even casual compositions. Project images animate smoothly through a user defined set or one is simply chosen at random should JavaScript be disabled.

A minimum of navigational elements, designed to “tell a story” as the visitor moves from left to right, complete the page.

a project profile page

The Important Bits

The focus of the site, the project profiles, carry over the clean design of the main page and provide key project information without distracting from the important bits: the images. Image thumbnails link to larger versions and a complete gallery for the current project. Projects, project types and clients are all cross-referenced in the database in order to provide links between related items.

Under the Hood

The site was developed in Python on top of the Django web framework with a custom content management system. Photologue was used for image processing and JavaScript animations were implemented using the MooTools library. Web hosting is currently provided by WebFaction.

Both the client and I were very happy with the design and functionality of the final product. The site was officially launched on March 10th, 2009:

Bosch Architecture

Perhaps we should get some details out of the way first…

I design and build custom web applications and interfaces. I specialize in Python development (Django in particular), advanced CSS and JavaScript. I also developed and maintain a couple of (reasonably) popular Django libraries such as django-photologue, django-imagekit and others.

Please feel free to email me If you would like to discuss your next project.

- Justin