DOMAss renamed to DOMAssistant, with added Prototype/jQuery compatibility

After I released DOMAss, I’ve gotten a number of e-mails from people telling me how happy they are with it and how well it compares to other libraries. They only have one problem: the name. What they’re saying is that they can’t use such a name, albeit funny, in production for large web sites and in their customers’ code.

Happy to oblige, the library is now renamed, with added side-by-side compatibility for other JavaScript libraries such as Prototype and jQuery.

A new coding meaning

While revolutionize is a strong word, after using DOMAssistant in a production environment, I’ve now realized just how powerful it is, and how much it has improved my code and coding practices, while at the same time ensuring the most consistent web browser behavior. I sincerely encourage you to try it out, because this can be exactly what you have been looking for!

The new name

The new name is practically the libraries real name: DOMAssistant. DOMAss was just a pun for the fun of it, but I agree that it needs to have a more serious name for prime time usage, so now it is changed.

Compatibility with other JavaScript libraries

Jeffrey Sambells contacted me and made me aware of the very easy tweak needed to ensure side-by-side compatibility with other JavaScript libraries, and it inspired me to make the necessary changes to accomplish this. Since DOMAssistant as well as Prototype, jQuery and other libraries make heavy use of a function named $, DOMAssistant has now one added feature if you want to combine it with any of those libraries:

For normal usage, call it like this:


    // Get a direct reference to a DOM element
    $("id-of-element");

For side-by-side usage with other libraries, call it like this:


    // Get a direct reference to a DOM element
    DOMAssistant.$("id-of-element");

Simple as that! Just download the new version and have a go at it. Happy scripting now, people! 🙂

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