Mobile software development platform provider appMobi introduced jQ.Mobi 1.0, the first public release of its open-source, cross-platform mobile development framework that rewrites the jQuery JavaScript desktop framework for mobile devices.
The HTML5-based jqMobi (introduced in beta in mid-January) boasts a common user interface and programming functions to reduce development time and effort. The framework also touts improvements like size reduction and code efficiency, as well as query selector engine, a user interface library and a collection of plugins. AppMobi promises that jqMobi outperforms jQuery (used on more than half of all desktop websites) 3x on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and 2.2x on Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS.
The jqMobi 1.0 release touts a host of improvements, bug fixes and tablet enhancements contributed by the open source community. AppMobi notes that at the time of jqMobi's beta release, the framework featured only 30 API functions and basic event support--the 1.0 release boasts more than 60 API calls, expanded event support and query selector compatibility. In addition, the jqUI gives developers their choice among six color themes, as well as vector-based iconography and it works seamlessly on tablets. AppMobi adds that jqMobi 1.0 is just as fast as the beta version and only slightly larger at 5kb minified and gZipped--the qUI is 21kb minified and gZipped.
Developers can download jqMobi 1.0 here. Downloads of the jqMobi beta top the 10,000 mark, with 80 "forks" and over 500 watchers on its GitHub repository.
AppMobi opened the source code behind its HTML5 technologies late last year in an effort to accelerate the mobile industry's transition to the HTML5 standard. Included in the source code: appMobi's DirectCanvas solution, which accelerates processing speeds to more quickly render HTML5 game graphics, as well as MobiUs, a mobile web app browser developed expressly to run applications written in HTML5.
AppMobi also open sourced authentication and encryption technologies including Oauth, a common web service authentication for accessing service APIs like Twitter, along with Augmented Reality APIs, JavaScript Bridge APIs, MediaPlayer technologies and the DirectBox 2D physics engine. All of appMobi's open-sourced code is available here.
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