[OSM-dev] UI Toolkit for the applet

[Nick Whitelegg]

>There is another option though, which is controversial but potentially
>interesting.  Write HTML/Ajax-y forms to handle input, and use
>applet/javascript communication to pass the necessary data.

>If we define an interface for the applet which could also be used
>without too much trouble for an SVG or Flash version then this could
>be quite elegant, and very flexible. Take a look for example at how
>Flickr handles tag input for photos.

>My preference would be for the applet to do the "work" (all
>communication with the API, basically) and for the javascript/html
>just to handle form input and possibly validation and error messages.

I like something along the lines of this idea but I would opt for a pure
JavaScript/AJAX version rather than communicating with the applet.
Following initial experiments I would probably opt for the new "canvas" tag
supported by Firefox 1.5 and to be supported by Opera 9 (and apparently
simulable in IE). The advantages of this approach would be clean
JavaScript/DOM code communicating directly with the server. I'm thinking
more of a Freemap, countryside-orientated editor rather than the "official"
OSM online editor (though if people like this approach there's no reason
why it could not be used in OSM as a whole).


Nick
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