Note that Spry is *NOT* included in the list of frameworks (heresy!), but I strongly recommend putting it in as a write-in vote if you’re down with the Spry framework. Perhaps even if you aren’t.

(Link courtesy of Ajaxian)

And that response was the recent Spry 1.6 update, of course. Which is getting much better feedback than 1.0, by a long shot. Jeremy recently took another peek at Spry and was as pleased with the documentation as he was with the technical changes in 1.6, Roger also recently gave a nod to the improved accessibility and progressive enhancement support. Right on. Spry’s still young, relatively speaking- so it’s nice to know the ship is headed in the right direction in regards to best practices overall.

Would you agree? If not, why?
Inquiring minds would love to know…

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/scores

Very cool- I believe it’s been in action for a few days but I’ll definitely be using it to watch the scores for this evening’s games. If you haven’t gotten into Spry 1.6 yet, there’s a good interview up at Builder.AU by Andrew Muller where I talk about the Spry framework’s most recent release. You can view it here:

Spry: “Standards, Dreamweaver & the future”

Enjoy!

Check out more details on Nitobi’s Complete UI 2007, which is easy because they’ve got a trial version you can play with too. I think you’ll be impressed. This is great stuff- kudos, Nitobi!

Oh, and did I mention Spry now includes an easy way to update your framework files in Dreamweaver CS3, too? You betcha. You can either download an MXP to update Dreamweaver specifically, or the full framework package (including all the additional documentation, samples and more – including the MXP updater for Dreamweaver).

Some interesting articles for those of you wanting to use Spry responsibly (I strongly recommend reading these regardless!):

• Spry and Best Practices
• Progressive Enhancement with Spry
• Using Spry Unobtrusively
• Validating Spry
• The Spry Element Selector (for unobtrusive usage)

Of course, there’s a lot more- but the good news is that Spry 1.6 is now available, and ready for you to start tweaking with ASAP. Regardless of whether you use Spry within Dreamweaver, or as a standalone framework, the team welcomes your feedback on the Spry forums so we can keep making it better for you and your real-world projects. Get to the bits, already!

Update: Don Booth has a great post on the Spry Team weblog now, too – great read for more details (including the new compressed versions of the Spry framework files- saving significant download time). Check it out here.

Minor modifications to use Andrew’s article with DW CS3:

• Install the AIR Extension for DW CS3 via the Extension Manager.
• I suggest creating a unique site definition for each AIR app, to help keep assets managed well
• Build the RSS application in Spry using either Andrew’s explicit instructions in code, or supplement that workflow with the visual Spry tools in Dreamweaver for a richer coding/GUI experience
• Preview the application using Dreamweaver’s “Preview in Browser” toolbar menu > “Preview in Adobe AIR”
• Package the application using the “Package in Adobe AIR” command from Dreamweaver’s Site menu.

Simple, quick and easy! And great little article to get your feet wet with AIR and Spry. Make sure to give Andrew some props if you like the walkthrough.

The comments in the Ajaxian article’s thread are interesting- I was pleased to see there’s certainly a contingent of folks within giving a thumbs-up to recent release(s) of DW, along with the expected ‘WYSIWYG editing is for dolts’ responses, the latter of which Dion’s question may actually be a valid one for. My answer is simple- I’m a designer who likes code. I spend most of my time in DW’s code view exclusively, and occasionally do quick mockups/proof-of-concept work with the WYSIWYG tools. DW CS3 is speedy and nimble for me (particularly when compared to the glacial performance of MX 2004 and perhaps DW 8), and I have no problems using it regularly as a code editor – again, with the occasional drift into the GUI-driven features if I’m doing quick tests/proofs.

Now I can’t (and won’t) argue with those who simply prefer completely stripped-down tools like Notepad or TextMate/BBEdit – I occasionally do as well (have been a BBEdit user longer than a Dreamweaver user), and understand the minimalist approach – but the extended features of DW (along with it’s recent updates for code-centric folks) are way too much to discount wholesale just for percieved street cred on my part, or the spectre of old (and now- largely resolved) code trust issues in the visual editing features.

Anyway, I’d be interested in your comments, suggestions and opinions on this, too- as Dreamweaver is a app very near and dear to my own workflow I’ve also got strong (and yes- potentially biased) opinions upon it myself. Sound off below, why dontcha?