This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by David Heinemeier Hansson. Original Post: Getting to drag'n'drop with Backpack Feed Title: Loud Thinking Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LoudThinking Feed Description: All about the full-stack, web-framework Rails for Ruby and on putting it to good effect with Basecamp Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by David Heinemeier Hansson Latest Posts From Loud Thinking

One of the hallmarks of disruptive technologies is that they eat their way up through the chain of capabilities over time. With the rise of Ajax, DHTML techniques like drag'n'drop are becoming a lot more useful. And together, they're taking the web application up another step on that chain of capabilities. The gab to mimicking the rich desktop applications is growing ever more narrow.

Point in case: We just introduced drag'n'drop for reordering of list items and notes in Backpack. It freaking rocks. Yes, everything old is new again. But that's the point. OmniOutliner still has a much richer environment for manipulating lists, but I already valued the sharing and accessibility of the content more. Taking one step closer to the rich feel is going to do the same of a lot more people.

But the real reason this is a big deal is because the rocket science department has been put on leave. With the script.aculo.us Javascript library by Thomas Fuchs, that builds on the great Prototype library from Sam Stephenson, it's silly easy to add advanced drag'n'drop to your Rails (or any) application.

By taking the complexity out of the ordeal, it becomes more accessible, less of a project, and more something you just do. Rails initial support for Ajax through Prototype had the same characteristics. Make it as easy as not to. And thus, Backpack was filled to the brim with Ajaxing goodies. Something it certainly wouldn't have been if we were doing it old skool style with loads of custom Javascript build by experts.

So we're getting closer every day. With the impending, upcoming release of Rails we'll include all this stuff right in the box. Rails is going to push the frontier of integration once again. Everything needed to build web applications like Backpack. Slick effects, cool interaction, and a solid MVC stack without having to strap on the professor hat.