Gestalt 1.0

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Features

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  Make way for Ruby & Python, JavaScript!

  Gestalt lets you write Ruby & Python within script tags (or linked scripts) right in your (X)HTML pages allowing you to do everything and more you've been used to doing in the page with JavaScript. Learn more »

  Ruby and Python have quickly become some of the most popular languages amongst web developers, yet, JavaScript remains the only standard scripting language for (X)HTML pages. Gestalt changes that while keeping your pages valid. It allows you to declare script tags with type="text/python" or type="text/ruby" and subsequently let's you write Ruby & Python to do everything from traversing the document and manipulating DOM elements to event handling and complex animations. You can even use expressive Ruby and Python code to control new HTML5 features like the Canvas element (on supported browsers).

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  XAML for enhanced Graphics

  Need rich elements in the page? A photo gallery? A Twitter badge? Maybe an interactive graph? Harness the power of the declarative UI markup language XAML to build complex GUIs, animations and interactivity by writing it within your pages. Learn more »

  Web applications have gotten more complex in recent years with traditional applications moving from the desktop to the web. However, GUIs on the web are still predominantly built and delivered using (X)HTML & CSS which were never intended for that purpose. XAML is a declarative markup language designed specifically to build interactive GUIs with support for drawing, animations, event handling, bitmap effects and more. Gestalt allows you to paste XAML inline (or externally link it) in HTML pages and manipulate it easily through Ruby, Python and JavaScript. If you're interested in building complex GUIs, we highly recommend Expression Blend. If you're using Adobe Illustrator, you can use the XAML exporter plugin for Adobe Illustrator.

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  Taking SEO to the next level

  Gestalt is all about view > source. Since the content is right there in your page, it’s fully exposed for search engines to index. Learn more »

  One of the more notable benefits of the Gestalt model is that it honors the most powerful facet of the Internet: View > Source. Since Gestalt pages are nothing more than HTML pages with XAML, Ruby & Python written inline, you get SEO for free. The strings in your applications are exposed in the code which means you have to do no extra work to expose them to search engines.

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  Transparently compiled and blazing fast

  When a user visits a page that uses Gestalt, we harness the power of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) to transparently compile any Ruby, Python & XAML blobs before running the scripts. Learn more »

  Offering a familiar development workflow is just fine and dandy, but Gestalt goes beyond that. When a Gestalt page is loaded in the browser, gestalt.js compiles all of the code on the fly by leveraging the DLR. This happens in a matter of milliseconds, but the performance increases reaped are substantial, especially for larger and longer-running applications.

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  "Look, Ma. No tools!"

  You need nothing more than a text editor to build your web pages. Since we like TextMate, we decided to release a bundle for it that gives you productive features like XAML tab completion & more. Learn more »

  Gestalt embraces the KISS model of the web by not tying you down to a proprietary authoring tool. You can build Gestalt web pages in your favorite text editor, may it be TextMate, NotePad++, or even Notepad. Of course, we recommend a text editor with code coloring, code completion, and other productivity features to simplify the development experience. To help you get started, we’re releasing a couple of simple TextMate bundles to help you author Gestalt pages. As for generating XAML, you can do it by hand or using Expression Blend.

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  I'm a Mac. I'm a PC.

  It doesn't matter whether you're a Mac or a PC. Gestalt supports development and consumption on both. Yep, that means you as a developer can build your Gestalt pages on a Mac. Did we mention our TextMate bundles? Learn more »

  Gestalt pages are nothing more than (X)HTML pages with support for Ruby, Python and XAML scripts embedded inline or linked. Support for these languages is enabled by the Silverlight plugin, specifically, the DLR. For those of you who didn't know it, Silverlight is cross-platform, effectively rendering Gestalt pages as cross-platform.

Ready-to-use Widgetry!

We took the liberty of creating a few ready-to-use widgets that you can start using today. Imagine a fully source-viewable, HTML5-compatible video and audio players or even a 3D Lightbox-CoverFlow style slideshow widget. Wait... don't imagine. Just check them out »

So, what are you waiting for? Get Started, Download the library and tools, check out the Samples, and start using our Widgets^New! in your own pages.