HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Appendix G. Tools and libraries
It's important to know what tools and libraries are available for developers looking to lever-
age HTML5 APIs. These can save time and make your projects less buggy. In this appendix,
you'll find out about several tools for mobile and HTML5 applications.
G.1. Tools for mobile web applications
If you're an experienced web application developer, you'll probably be familiar with web
and JavaScript frameworks that make your life easier when it comes to ensuring cross-
browser compatibility with your code, or that reduce your workload by giving you access to
UI widgets and components. If so, you may have been wondering if there's any such frame-
work for mobile web applications. Fortunately, the answer is yes, and there's a decent choice
of frameworks on offer, including:
• jQuery Mobile
• Sencha Touch
• Dojo Mobile
• Jo
These frameworks provide a means of building mobile web applications that leverage
HTML5 to create a native app experience. They all feature a set of rich UI components that
mimic native mobile UI features such as lists, navigation bars, toolbars, tab bars, form con-
trols, carousels, and more. Each also provides a data abstraction layer that makes it easier to
interact with HTML5's storage features, which are covered in
chapter 5
. All of these frame-
works can be used in tandem with frameworks, such as PhoneGap, for deploying mobile
web applications as native apps on various platforms.
G.2. Tools for HTML5 applications
This section covers things that you'll find useful when developing HTML5 applications. It
includes tools within browsers, development versions of browsers, and external tools and
scripts to make your life easier.
