In just a few weeks, I’ve gone from being a staunch defender of Flash to a Javascript zealot. Thanks to jQuery, Raphael, and a few other fantastic code libraries, it seems clear that a new JS-based Timeglider will exceed the Flash application in many ways. Here are some things on the horizon for early 2011.
- A jQuery plug-in for the Timeglider viewer that will make it possible to either load you own data (as XML or as JSON) from your site or from the Timeglider API.
- Much more flexibility with language and icons. All languages and character sets will be supported and we’ll use the Unicode character library to make it possible to have any unicode glyph/character as an icon.
- More HTML that can be added inside of event descriptions, including (html5) video and audio embeds.
- The jQuery plug-in will be open-source. We’ll leverage the Javascript developer community to make the timeline viewer better, faster, and more feature-rich.
Importantly, until this new JS version is stable and meets the standards of the current Flash version (speed, usability, etc), things will remain as-is. The Timeglider application will also continue to have a free version especially geared toward educational use and we’ll also offer an affordable monthly “Plus” version (now in perpetual beta!) for some added features like uploading data, managing larger sets of users, etc.
I’ll be going to the jQuery Conference in Boston in mid-October. Please let me know if you’re going and want to talk about helping with the Timeglider plug-in, or if you have other ideas.
I’ll be updating this post every so often as more thoughts occur.