Before we get into specifics about what would make a better front end, I think we need a clearer picture of what it will mean for us to move to server-side template rendering, since that move changes *everything* about how the front end works.
In my view/experience, it means that we take data objects handed to us by the back-end and generate pre-rendered HTML. IOTW, it means we will no longer be constructing the DOM client-side. This, in turn, means that the server is not spitting out JSON* - we go straight from back-end logic to a sophisticated template language that generates HTML (you've already seen my wishlist for server-side template features and functionality). After initial page load, any needed Ajax interactions will happen against callback functions on the server. A change like this would mean a huge win in performance, and a huge win in developer productivity. It would also mean a ton of work to rewrite all views in the system. But most of the questions we're discussing here take a completely different form if we're going to make this change. Can anyone say more about what it is intended with the move to server-side template rendering? ./s * If we still need JSON to represent a public-facing API, we can do that by allowing something like ?format=json on URLs, but JSON wouldn't be the primary output of views. __________________________ Scot Hacker Senior Software Developer @ CalCentral Educational Technology Services, UC Berkeley [email protected] (510) 292-5586 __________________________ _______________________________________________ oae-dev mailing list [email protected] http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/oae-dev
