Hey Matt(s). I'm heading up the effort within the jQuery team to standardize the way we handle plugins. We've already begun adding meta-data to plugins to make it easier to automate searches and indexing of plugins in the subversion repository.
We're also in the process of putting together an official plugin repository that would be hosted on the jQuery website with many of the same features that you're suggesting. I'm really excited to see activity on this front outside of the jQuery core team, and am looking forward to both the official repository and jqueryplugins.com each having a unique place in the evolving world of jQuery. More comments interspersed below. On 2/26/07, Matt Kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I don't want to diminish your excitement but we're already in the > process of building a plugin repository to better manage the jQuery plugins. Speaking of which, is there any list of things you are building into the first release? A list of future enhancements? As I've been reading, experimenting, and developing, I had a few thoughts. If 20k is the jQuery limit, that means new development on the core library will probably be really limited, and the future of jQuery really lies in the plugins. Is this the vision?
There will definitely be more development on the jQuery (1.2 will probably have animation improvements, for instance), but many of the things people really want to see (like better widgets) fall into the plugin space, not the core space. If so, then the plugins area certainly warrants a lot of attention. It is
probably where many new jQuery users will be hooked because they can easily do X or Y, not because they can do the lower-level JS stuff easier with the core lib.
Absolutely. With these thoughts in mind, I had few suggestions - some (or all!) of which
I'm sure you're already considering: 1. The "official" list of plugins should get its own page and be clearly separated from other non-official plugins. They should meet some tough standards, be updated and supported, and avoid overlapping functionality as much as possible. It should be clear what is required for a plugin to be considered "official".
I believe this is in the plans. As we move forward, official plugins will become more like the "modules" of other libraries, adding functionality to the core that are not provided by default. But because they'll each be maintained by individuals with "an itch to scratch," I believe we'll have a leg up over all-encompassing libraries. 2. Official plugins should have a common naming convention, always have the
same license as jQuery itself, and follow some similar coding guidelines.
We're already moving in that direction. Documentation is currently required for official plugins, and in most cases, dual-licensing (GPL and MIT) is required as well. 3. Documentation should be consistent. There should be a single format which
all plugins should follow - perhaps an enhanced version of jsdoc? This way the API for every plugin could be published using the same structure and format, and multiple libraries could be combined and documented together.
All official plugins use jQuery's own documentation format, and Visual jQuery pulls that documentation out of the plugin files for automated APIing :). 4. In line with #3, some meta-data should be consistent across all plugins
so a dynamic list of plugins could be built. Name, description, author, last updated, etc.
Yep. If you like at the svn, we're starting to add META.json to all plugins, so that the plugins each have consistent meta info. 5. There should definitely be a ratings system or some way for the best
plugins to quickly rise to the top. From a user perspective, there's nothing worse than a long list of optional modules like exists now. If a user is looking for a plugin, they might lack the experience or knowledge to create the functionality on their own. So how are they supposed to pick the best and most appropriate plugin to accomplish a task? Those "in the know" need to help them do it by making the best ones most visible.
Absolutely. This is definitely in the works for the first release of the official jQuery plugin repository. Just some thoughts. I would really like information or discussion on the
documentation/API side of things, as I am currently looking for the best way to document a jQuery API.
This definitely needs to be better documented. There is already a very solid, consistent doc format for jQuery code. Matt Kruse -- Yehdua _______________________________________________
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