I'm a BBC client-side developer. For the record, I am not nor have I ever been part of the Glow team. However, I would like to point out, expressing my own view and mine alone of course, that most of the self-appointed experts on the inner workings of the BBC posting comments here appear to have entirely missed the point about Glow.
Firstly, whatever anyone outside the Beeb might imagine, the fact is that BBC developers are obliged to adhere to a tough set of browser support standards imposed on us from above. No Javascript library was available which met these standards. Glow came along to solve this long-standing, highly frustrating problem and has finally freed our developers to get some really useful Javascript-enhanced UIs onto BBC websites. This is its primary purpose. Offering it to the public is a nice extra but it was not the main reason for creating Glow.
Secondly, all this talk of how much Glow costs licence fee payers is nonsense. To my knowledge, much of the work on Glow has been implemented by a very small number of dedicated individuals, often fitting this work around other responsibilities. Glow has already saved many developer hours across the BBC by eliminating duplication of work across a number of teams and by making it a lot quicker and easier to get quality-assured JS enhancements onto our sites. Far from wasting licence fee money, over time, Glow will mean a substantial saving.
Thirdly, I don't really know Jake, but I kind of met him once at a meeting about Glow in its very early days. He struck me as a pretty humble, unassuming person rather than the deranged ego-tripper some of the rants on this page suggest.
Finally, FAO Mr Resig: Without doubt you are a true coding hero to many of my colleagues. However, if you didn't talk to Jake before now, I think you must have been mistaken in believing you had spoken to the Glow team.
Firstly, whatever anyone outside the Beeb might imagine, the fact is that BBC developers are obliged to adhere to a tough set of browser support standards imposed on us from above. No Javascript library was available which met these standards. Glow came along to solve this long-standing, highly frustrating problem and has finally freed our developers to get some really useful Javascript-enhanced UIs onto BBC websites. This is its primary purpose. Offering it to the public is a nice extra but it was not the main reason for creating Glow.
Secondly, all this talk of how much Glow costs licence fee payers is nonsense. To my knowledge, much of the work on Glow has been implemented by a very small number of dedicated individuals, often fitting this work around other responsibilities. Glow has already saved many developer hours across the BBC by eliminating duplication of work across a number of teams and by making it a lot quicker and easier to get quality-assured JS enhancements onto our sites. Far from wasting licence fee money, over time, Glow will mean a substantial saving.
Thirdly, I don't really know Jake, but I kind of met him once at a meeting about Glow in its very early days. He struck me as a pretty humble, unassuming person rather than the deranged ego-tripper some of the rants on this page suggest.
Finally, FAO Mr Resig: Without doubt you are a true coding hero to many of my colleagues. However, if you didn't talk to Jake before now, I think you must have been mistaken in believing you had spoken to the Glow team.
Steven