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Introduction to Backbone.js Part 4: Collections – Video Tutorial

Part 4: Backbone.js Collections Video Tutorial is here now. We’ve already discussed models, views, and routers in Backbone.js so far, but now we’re on to collections. Collections are pretty much exactly what their name implies: collections of models. Many times, data is displayed in lists, not just singular items. This is where collections come in - to keep every model in order and synchronized with the database on the back end.

JavaScript

Introduction to Backbone.js Part 3: Routers – Video Tutorial

We’re on to part 3 in the Backbone.js video tutorials series. This week we feature another important piece of the Backbone puzzle: Routers. You could conceivably create your JavaScript apps without Routers, but the ingenious technique behind routers allows your users to bookmark the app at a particular state or even use the back and forward buttons to traverse through the history of your applications state. Watch the video to learn more!

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Delays

Due to scheduling conflicts and inaccessibility to proper equipment, no post will be released today. Instead Part 3 of the Backbone.js Video series will be released on Tuesday, April 10th. If you missed any of the series thus far, I recommend catching up before the new one comes out, by using the links below.

JavaScript

Introduction to Backbone.js Part 2: Views - Video Tutorial

Last week you saw a video tutorial on using Models in Backbone.js. This week we’ve moved right along to part 2: learning about Views in Backbone.js. As usual, Backbone.js has made things super simple, yet you get a lot for how little code you write. You’ll see how to attach events (super easy) and utilize models (also super easy) to give your views some data to work with.

JavaScript

JZ Publish/Subscribe jQuery Plugin Version 1.3 Released

It’s been a little while since I’ve taken a look at JZ Publish/Subscribe, but recently I had a great idea to fix a problem I was having trouble solving. Mix that in with a few more bits of context capability and you have the version 1.3 release of JZ Publish/Subscribe. Go ahead and read a little more to get the scoop on this great idea and how it will make using JZ Publish/Subscribe more stable.

JavaScript

Introduction to Backbone.js Part 1: Models - Video Tutorial

If you’ve read my last post or have just been keeping up with the JavaScript world at all, you’ve probably heard about Backbone.js. Well, this is the beginning of a tutorial series for Backbone.js and with this new series also comes a new media type: video! Today’s video tutorial teaches you how to get started using the M from MVC: the model. It’s pretty simple, yet pretty awesome and powerful.

JavaScript

Give Your Apps a Backbone(.js)

As the internet gets smarter and smarter and JavaScript starts piling up on web pages, we need to learn to organize our code. The days of filling the global namespace with all the functions we can think of are long over and have become far too difficult to maintain. Along with many other design patterns, the MVC (model, view, controller) pattern can bring order to the chaotic spaghetti of your JavaScript code. Right now, the de facto JavaScript MVC framework library is Backbone.js.

JavaScript

Wijmo: A More Expansive jQuery UI

jQuery UI is one of the cooler things to come out with jQuery. It allows you to easily install widgets and simple capabilities onto your site quickly and easily. ThemeRoller makes it even more fun by allowing you to style the widgets in nearly limitless ways. There is one place where jQuery UI is lacking though: the number of widgets it provides. This is where Wijmo comes in.

JavaScript

5 Tips to Make Your jQuery Plugins Awesome

jQuery plugins are popping up all over the place and just about everyone is trying to get in on the action. What determines whether a plugin is good or bad for you is largely up to your opinion and your requirements, but there are few things that you can do when writing your plugins to guarantee at least a bit of quality and standardization in your plugins that everyone who looks at your plugin code will be thankful for.

JavaScript

localStorage Script Caching With basket.js

Downloading JavaScript files halts rendering and downloading of other files, and therefore can add significant amounts of time to your website’s downloading speed. Adding your scripts into your footer and using script loaders can help, but a new project is looking to make things even faster by caching in localStorage.