Interaction design firm ZURB unveiled its newest web app, Chop, at RailsConf 2011. Chop is a code review app created to allow designers or developers share snippets of code, along with annotations.
Users can paste in bits of code, choose their language, and then get a well-formatted bit of code (with syntax-highlighting depending on the language chosen) that can then be annotated. Simply select a line or lines from the document and then add your note.
Once users share the URL with someone else, that user can see the code, the annotation and add their own comment or reply to the code. In a world that already has Pastie, Pastebin and dozens of other code pasting sites, one might wonder if another is really necessary.
In the case of Chop, the annotations add some flare to the experience, which can be especially useful when instant messaging tools or email can’t adequately point out why a certain line of code needs to be adjusted.
Chop was built using Backbone.js, a framework that “supplies structure to JavaScript-heavy applications.” The net result is that pages load faster, especially when it comes to annotating parts of the tool.
ZURB used Backbone.js when it relaunched its popular web app Notable earlier this year. On the ZURB blog, engineer Matt Kelly discusses how using Backbone.js was able to speed up interactions within Notable significantly.
Have you used Backbone.js in any of your projects? Let us know in the comments.
More About: backbone.js, chop, chop app, notable, zurb
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