Developers interested in creating cross-platform mobile apps have a new tool for their arsenals in The-M-Project. The-M-Project is an HTML5 JavaScript framework that targets iOS, Android, BlackBerry and webOS platforms.
Think of it as jQuery Mobile with the added bonus of a NodeJS based build tool. The project is new and in the very early alpha stages, but it already looks very promising.
The-M-Project has its own git repository that you can fork or download to your own system.
The project files include all the UI and Core files from jQuery Mobile. The real special sauce with The-M-Project is its build tool, Espresso. Espresso was written in JavaScript using node.js and with it you can build your code and run it on a built-in server. Espresso is available bundled with The-M-Project or you can download it from its git repository.
All right, so that all sounds good and geeky, but what exactly can this project do? Well, as we said, the project is still in its infancy but already the developers have put together some sample apps that show off some of what you can do.
This screenshot shows off the Twitter demo and the app. Accessing the app from an iPhone or Android device brings together an experience that feels very similar to that of a native iOS app. What is particularly cool — and this is the jQuery Mobile base — is that you can adjust your browser window’s size to see how the UI elements scale up or down.
If you want to explore the insides of the sample apps, you can check the source code out on Git Hub.
The team behind The-M-Project, M-Way Solutions, has a basic roadmap outlining its plans for the project. The first public release is out now but future updates will be coming soon and the production ready 1.0 version is scheduled by the end of 2011.
Developers that want to contribute by filing bug reports and submitting patches can go to Git Hub or look at this page for more information.
What do you think about JavaScript/HTML5 mobile app frameworks and tool kits? Is this where mobile app development is headed? Let us know your thoughts.
More About: HTML5, javascript, jquery, jquery mobile, mobile app development, mobile apps, node, node.js, the-m-project
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