README in masterview-0.2.5 vs README in masterview-0.3.0

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@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@ -= MasterView - Rails-optimized (x)html friendly template engine += MasterView - Rails-optimized (x)html friendly template engine -MasterView is a ruby/rails optimized HTML/XHTML friendly template engine. -It is designed to use the full power and productivity of rails including -layouts, partials, and rails html helpers while still being editable/styleable -in a WYSIWYG HTML editor. +MasterView is a ruby/rails optimized HTML/XHTML friendly template engine. +It is designed to use the full power and productivity of rails including +layouts, partials, and rails html helpers while still being editable/styleable +in a WYSIWYG HTML editor. -MasterView is distributed as a gem or a plugin. You may install it as a gem and -then generate a lightweight plugin which mainly refers to the gem *or* you can -simply install as a plugin which is self contained. I personally prefer installing -as a gem for ease of management, however if you are running at a shared hosting -environment you might not have authority to install this gem so you may install +MasterView is distributed as a gem or a plugin. You may install it as a gem and +then generate a lightweight plugin which mainly refers to the gem *or* you can +simply install as a plugin which is self contained. I personally prefer installing +as a gem for ease of management, however if you are running at a shared hosting +environment you might not have authority to install this gem so you may install as a self contained plugin. If you are interested in the background story behind all this, it is at the end of this page. Author:: Jeff Barczewski -Email:: jeff.barczewski @ gmail.com +Email:: jeff.barczewski (at) gmail (dot) com Primary developers:: Jeff Barczewski, Deb Lewis Website:: http://masterview.org Rubyforge project:: masterview License:: MIT open source license like Rails @@ -33,20 +33,20 @@ - Performance equal to ERb == Prerequisites Requires:: - No external dependencies + No external dependencies Optional:: - tidy (gem) and tidy library - if these are installed you can use tidy to cleanup html into valid xhtml for use by MasterView - log4r (gem) - if this gem is installed then MasterView will use it for logging otherwise it defaults to using built in Logger. + tidy (gem) and tidy library - if these are installed you can use tidy to cleanup html into valid xhtml for use by MasterView + log4r (gem) - if this gem is installed then MasterView will use it for logging otherwise it defaults to using built in Logger. == User Documentation MasterView documentation is available online at the MasterView site: - http://www.masterview.org + http://www.masterview.org and on the rubyforge project http://rubyforge.org/projects/masterview/ == Installation @@ -68,90 +68,91 @@ A MasterView Admin controller can optionally be activated in your application to assist you during development with creating and managing your templates. == Background story -I came from a Java Struts environment when I was introduced to Ruby. I -was just in the process of evaluating Tapestry and JSF when I learned about Rails. -Ruby and Rails changed my world forever. I had to however drop many of my bad -habits aquired from years of Java and C++ work. I had to embrace the new ideas +I came from a Java Struts environment when I was introduced to Ruby. I +was just in the process of evaluating Tapestry and JSF when I learned about Rails. +Ruby and Rails changed my world forever. I had to however drop many of my bad +habits aquired from years of Java and C++ work. I had to embrace the new ideas and approach things now with a different mindset. (If you ever have a chance to -hear Dave Thomas speak, you will know what I mean. He has a wonderfully entertaining +hear Dave Thomas speak, you will know what I mean. He has a wonderfully entertaining yet enlightening way of illustrating this.) After learning the Ruby and Rails way, (Thank you Matz and DHH for such wonderful gifts to the world) I was amazed at how productive this environment is. Programming was fun once again, and everything you do in Ruby or Rails is easier than any other language or framework I have ever seen. Even taking into account having to learn something new, I was still far more productive than ever before. The only thing that I felt that could be done better, was to have a nice html friendly templating -engine so that designers and developers could work collaboratively together on a project. -The designers could style and layout the pages with their WYSIWYG HTML editors and -developers would have the full power of Ruby and Rails without having to jump -through extra hoops to use them. I looked at the available html template engines -to see if anything fit with my style. I was disappointed with each of them, mainly because -they all made it harder than straigt ERb (rhtml) and were not able to use layouts +engine so that designers and developers could work collaboratively together on a project. +The designers could style and layout the pages with their WYSIWYG HTML editors and +developers would have the full power of Ruby and Rails without having to jump +through extra hoops to use them. I looked at the available html template engines +to see if anything fit with my style. I was disappointed with each of them, mainly because +they all made it harder than straigt ERb (rhtml) and were not able to use layouts and partials easily. -After all the hard work so many people have put into Ruby and Rails, I wanted to see -if there was anyway I could contribute as well, maybe extending one of the existing -template projects to have the ideal functionality I was striving for. I wanted -something to make my own web development even more productive. However after -reviewing each of them and even getting into the source code, the closest ones seemed -to be Amrita2, Liquid, and Kwartz. Unfortunately it was not going to be easy to add +After all the hard work so many people have put into Ruby and Rails, I wanted to see +if there was anyway I could contribute as well, maybe extending one of the existing +template projects to have the ideal functionality I was striving for. I wanted +something to make my own web development even more productive. However after +reviewing each of them and even getting into the source code, the closest ones seemed +to be Amrita2, Liquid, and Kwartz. Unfortunately it was not going to be easy to add the functionality and usability I desired. -During my research I learned that many of the rails gurus were putting down html -template engines because they felt that they handicapped the developer severely, -namely by not taking advantage of rails layouts, partials, and html helpers. -After doing some projects with ERb (rhtml) I realized that they were right. I too -did not want to give up any of that power either. I also didn't want to create a -bunch of extra code or config to use the templates (extra view code, or data +During my research I learned that many of the rails gurus were putting down html +template engines because they felt that they handicapped the developer severely, +namely by not taking advantage of rails layouts, partials, and html helpers. +After doing some projects with ERb (rhtml) I realized that they were right. I too +did not want to give up any of that power either. I also didn't want to create a +bunch of extra code or config to use the templates (extra view code, or data structures to pass to the templates) as so many of the other engines relied on. -I expanded my search outside of Ruby for the best html template technology I could find. -After reviewing all the front runners I still didn't find anything that quite met with my -goals for developing with ruby and rails. I also didn't find any technology that was -close enough that I could adapt it. However I did come across features in a variety of -systems that inspired me, and helped me shape the ideas that are presented here. -A few of those systems were Tapestry, Zope/PHP TAL, Kwartz, Amrita 2, Liquid, -and Web Objects. +I expanded my search outside of Ruby for the best html template technology I could find. +After reviewing all the front runners I still didn't find anything that quite met with my +goals for developing with ruby and rails. I also didn't find any technology that was +close enough that I could adapt it. However I did come across features in a variety of +systems that inspired me, and helped me shape the ideas that are presented here. +A few of those systems were Tapestry, Zope/PHP TAL, Kwartz, Amrita 2, Liquid, +and Web Objects. -After putting much thought into all the possible options I could not see extending +After putting much thought into all the possible options I could not see extending an existing template engine to meet my needs. And since I wanted this engine to have all the power of ruby and rails, it seemed that I would be best served by developing a html template syntax that was a thin layer above ERb. That way it would be intuitive -to use (not having to learn yet another syntax) yet very powerful. Once I was able to -come up with the desired syntax and approach it became apparent that this would also +to use (not having to learn yet another syntax) yet very powerful. Once I was able to +come up with the desired syntax and approach it became apparent that this would also be fairly straightforward to build. -I ran the concept by the guys at the St. Louis Ruby Group http://stlruby.org and -they were excited about the project. With their help I was able to simply some of -the confusing or complicated areas before beginning development. They also sparked -some ideas about how to make this infinitely extensible such that developers could -easily add their own attribute directives. This would give them the power to create -custom extensions that would encapsulate some of their development work. This would -serve a couple needs, it would not only make this engine extensible, it would also +I ran the concept by the guys at the St. Louis Ruby Group http://stlruby.org and +they were excited about the project. With their help I was able to simply some of +the confusing or complicated areas before beginning development. They also sparked +some ideas about how to make this infinitely extensible such that developers could +easily add their own attribute directives. This would give them the power to create +custom extensions that would encapsulate some of their development work. This would +serve a couple needs, it would not only make this engine extensible, it would also allow this engine to grow easily being composed of small pluggable attribute directives. -Many thanks to the members of this group, I continue to enjoy discussing the power of +Many thanks to the members of this group, I continue to enjoy discussing the power of Ruby and learning from each of them on a monthly basis. -While I am on the subject of thanks, I would like to thank my wife and daughter for -their support as I took time away from them to work on this project and I want to -thank God for bringing the right people into my life just when I needed them and for -bringing me on this wonderful journey, I am so very blessed. May I be able to give +While I am on the subject of thanks, I would like to thank my wife and daughter for +their support as I took time away from them to work on this project and I want to +thank God for bringing the right people into my life just when I needed them and for +bringing me on this wonderful journey, I am so very blessed. May I be able to give back some of what has been given to me. And one more mention of tremendous thanks to Deb Lewis, the other core developer on the -team, she has spent countless hours reviewing, revising, and improving the codebase, -configuration, and documentation. The project wouldn't be half of what it is today -without all her help, inspiration, and hard work. I thoroughly enjoy working and +team, she has spent countless hours reviewing, revising, and improving the codebase, +configuration, and documentation. The project wouldn't be half of what it is today +without all her help, inspiration, and hard work. I thoroughly enjoy working and debating the finer points of the project with her each step of the way. So that's the story, I hope that many of you will find MasterView to be a useful tool for your development. I am continuing to refine MasterView by using it daily for -Genesis Ministry sites and all my web projects. I know that there is much more work needed -in documentation, examples, test cases, additional directives, etc., so I would -appreciate any feedback and ideas that you have. Thanks for taking the time to +Genesis Ministry sites and all my web projects. I know that there is much more work needed +in documentation, examples, test cases, additional directives, etc., so I would +appreciate any feedback and ideas that you have. Thanks for taking the time to review MasterView! -Jeff Barczewski (jeff.barczewski @ gmail.com) +Jeff Barczewski +jeff.barczewski (at) gmail (dot) com