Stepping down with DOMAssistant

January 25th 2007, I released something I fondly nicknamed DOMAss, which step by step evolved into the today full-fledged DOMAssistant. Today, it is time to let it go.

You’re doing what?!

Don’t worry, the DOMAssistant project isn’t being cancelled or something like that. This is merely about me and my part in the project, which is about to change. I’m putting over the decision making and lead of the project to Cheng Hong Lim. I will most likely continue to help out with DOMAssistant, in regards to blogging about it, using it etc, but for now I will not contribute with any more coding.

Why stepping down?

The reasons for me doing this is that I feel I have come to a sort of crossroads. I sincerely think that first I, and then me together with the DOMAssistant team, have accomplished truly great things which I’m indeed is very proud of.

However, I feel content with the current place DOMAssistant is in right now, and I’ve achieved more than ever though possible, both in regards to performance as well as functionality. It’s by far the non-work-project I’ve put the most amount of hours into, and the things I’ve learned when it comes to JavaScript has probably been unsurpassable, had I taken another route.

But, I have a number of ideas and other projects I want to devote my time and hunger to, and the best time to let DOMAssistant go is when it is at a peak, and not in the middle of some development step taking it further.

Setting the bar

Humbly, I would say that I’m pretty convinced we have set the bar for other JavaScript libraries when it comes to certain aspects. First and foremost, to my knowledge, DOMAssistant still has the fastest CSS selectors, and seeing work like John Resig’s Sizzle just makes me more convinced that the major JavaScript libraries have taken impression and understand the importance of good performance.

DOMAssistant is also the only JavaScript library with complete Unicode support, and in these times and age, definitely being a global world more than ever, I’m sure that the other JavaScript libraries will soon realize that this is vital to be able to offer something on a greater scale.

In comparison DOMAssistant also offers complete documentation in Chinese. When will the competitors improve their localization to the biggest Internet market in the world?

The future of DOMAssistant

I am thoroughly convinced that the future of DOMAssistant is bright, and I’m sure Cheng Hong and the others will take it to heights none of you could ever have imagined! πŸ™‚

Except for the general minor tweaks and improvements, there’s some very interesting event work being developed as we speak, and trust me, there’s no end to the ideas!

Please stay tuned to DOMAssistant, and if you haven’t tried it out already, give it a spin! And if you’re a developer, feel more than free to look at the code and learn, to give us the chance to make you a better developer, just as people sharing their knowledge to us made us love what we do!

Today I step down. Thanks for the ride!

3 Comments

  • Remy Sharp says:

    At first I thought this blog post was going to read DOMAss was being shelved, but I’m glad to read that you’re only stepping away and letting your baby fly from the nest. Good for you.
    No doubt there’s more JS goodness to come, and you’ve still got the best getElementByClassName to your name.
    Cheers!

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Remy,

    Absolutely, it's not like I'll stop writing Javacripts nor that DOMAssistant would stop being developed. Personally, no one would be happier than me if DOMAssistant evolved into something even better, with lots of users.

    And if anyone can make it continue to be top-notch, it's Cheng Hong.

    Besides, it has been my JavaScript baby for quite some time now, so naturally I want it to do well. πŸ™‚

  • […] year, I decided to leave the DOMAssistant project. It was extremely good and helped me evolve to create and run something like that, but it was time […]

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