Re: Pre-release announcement: YUI 2.4.0, expected in the first half of December

>
> The YUI team is hard at work on the next YUI release, and we want to  
> share with you some of the more significant updates that are coming  
> when we ship version 2.4.0 (scheduled for the first half of  
> December).  This is not an exhaustive summary — just the major changes  
> in which we have high confidence at this point.  Bug fixes and minor  
> features have been applied throughout the library; a more complete  
> release manifest will be made available on the day of the release.  
> Any bugs you've filed in SourceForge have been updated with a target/
> milestone of 2.4.0 if we're targeting its fix for this release.
>
> If you have specific questions about the release, please reply here.
>
> Regards,
> Eric
>
>
> Release Pre-announcement: YUI 2.4.0
> Timeframe: first half of December
> *Note: All information issued prior to a release is indicative of our  
> current plans and expectations.  While we try hard to deliver on  
> stated objectives, any dates or release content projected in a pre-
> release message may be subject to change.
>
> Important News about the YUI DataTable Control:
> We've made an important decision to carry forward the 2.3.1 version  
> of DataTable in the 2.4.0 release without change.  The work we've done  
> since 2.3.1, which includes things like fixed header rows, showing and  
> hiding columns, drag-and-drop column sizing, is coming along well but  
> is not yet stable and consistent enough for your use.  Given the  
> choice between holding back 2.4.0 or holding DataTable out of this  
> release, the latter was the better choice.
> I know that many of you are working hard on your DataTable  
> implementations today and that this delay is not good news.  I want to  
> reassure you that it's not a decision we took lightly, but rather a  
> step we needed to take in order to help move this component more  
> quickly toward GA status and stability with the required feature set.  
> We're fully committed to DataTable and we're excited about the  
> progress we're making on it. Over the next few months we'll be  
> dedicating even more resources to DataTable, and you can expect to see  
> the features mentioned above (and more) in a 2.5.0 release early next  
> year.
>
>
> New YUI Components or Features:
>
> 1.  YUI Charts Control
> The YUI Charts component will allow you to bring data into the page  
> via the YUI DataSource Utility and display that information in the  
> form of bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs.  The data  
> visualization is driven by a Flash .swf engine that gets its data from  
> JavaScript, meaning you get the visual richness of Flash while  
> interacting with the Charts Control purely through JavaScript (just as  
> you interact with any other YUI component).  If you want to get deeper  
> in to the Flash piece itself, its source will be available as part of  
> Yahoo's Astra library of Flash componentry.
> As this is the first "hybrid" Flash/DHTML component in YUI, we will  
> be releasing this as an experimental component; we'll look forward to  
> hearing your feedback on how well this meets your needs as you begin  
> evaluating it upon release.  (Josh Tynjala)
>
> 2.  YUI Profiler Utility
> Nicholas Zakas debuts his second YUI component in 2.4.0 with the  
> introduction of an early-beta YUI Profiler Utility.  The Profiler,  
> which can work in conjunction with YUI Test to create performance  
> thresholds for unit testing, is a flexible toolkit for measuring the  
> performance of JS code.  The YUI Profiler will debut without a built-
> in interface in 2.4.0 (we'll add interface elements in subsequent  
> releases) but is suitable in its present form for many profiling and  
> testing tasks.  (Nicholas Zakas)
>
> 3.  YUI Get Utility
> YUI's most prolific author, Adam Moore, is back in 2.4.0 with another  
> crucial component — one we're calling the YUI Get Utility.  Get  
> provides robust support for asynchronous, on-demand loading of  
> resources like script and CSS files.  The Get Utility can be used for  
> proxyless external DataSources in AutoComplete and for loading JSON  
> data from trusted web services. (Adam Moore)
>
> 4.  JSON Utility
> The newest member of the YUI team is Luke Smith, and he contributes  
> to 2.4.0 an adaptation of Douglas Crockford's JSON utilities.  (Luke  
> Smith)
>
> 5.  Selector Utility
> We've thought a lot about element selection and where that  
> functionality fits within the YUI model. The first fruits of that work  
> arrive in 2.4.0 as the YUI Selector Utility.  If you've been longing  
> to have some of the selection sugar you've seen in JQuery right within  
> the YUI kit, you'll definitely want to explore this new component from  
> Matt Sweeney (author of Animation, Dom, and TabView).
>
>
> Notable Changes to Existing Components:
>
> 1.  Promoting out of Beta/Experimental Status
> We're  moving conservatively but steadily to promote newer components  
> to GA status.  2.4.0 sees Button and History move to GA while  
> ImageLoader is promoted to beta from experimental.
>
> 2.  Rich Text Editor
> This is a big release for the RTE beta.  Dav Glass has been hard at  
> work stabilizing and streamlining RTE, and with 2.4.0 it will be  
> available in both SimpleEditor and Editor flavors.  Using the lighter  
> version of the Toolbar, RTE's total minified K-weight is down to  
> ~130KB (including all dependencies), while performance and stability  
> continue to improve.
>
> 3.  Drag and Drop Utility
> Drag and Drop introduces the concept of items that are draggable but  
> not droppable -- a big performance boost for elements like floating  
> panels that can be moved around but aren't meant to interact in the  
> drag-and-drop sense with the items below them.
>
> 4.  AutoComplete Control
> As mentioned above, AutoComplete gains the ability (via the new YUI  
> Get Utility) to perform proxyless web services requests.
>
> 5.  YUI Test Utility
> The YUI Test Utility gains support for asynchronous testing, allowing  
> you to perform a test action and then wait a specified amount of time  
> before continuing the test.
>
>
> =========
>
>
> YUI 2.4.0 is on track for a release in the first half of December.  
> Stay tuned to YDN-JavaScript and YUIBlog for more information about  
> the release when it becomes available.
>
> Regards,
> Eric
>