What is Div#a Look?

Much like ExcelLook, that vends excel pages, Diva look generates a Web 2.0 interface for DirectToWeb.
More specifically, it generates pages that are:

• Semantically-rich or tables-less
• XHTML 1.0 strict compliant
• Sans images, inline styles or presentation attributes

They make use of:

• CSS themes
• Scriptaculous effects
• Javascript widgets
• Ajax

Why Table-less Markup?

Scriptaculous, jQuery effects, etc work by manipulating CSS attributes.
Mostly they don't work very well on tables, if at all.
Furthermore, the more sophisticated widgets (like accordions) make use of effects and so don't function as they should without.

This is even more true for unobtrusive javascript for which table-less markup is usually a prerequisite.
Like jQuery, which takes this a step further, by applying functionality via CSS selectors.
(So for jQuery it is an absolute requirement).

Therefore, if you are developing a Web 2.0/Ajax UI, the transition to table-less markup is an imperative.

What is a Diva Theme?

In ERDivaLook, or Diva for short, your application is not complete without a CSS theme.
All images, layout, colors and font information are maintained in the CSS.

All your customizations to the look and layout of your application is also done in the CSS (and via D2W rules).

Example Diva Themes:

The following are a sample of themes for Diva look. The first two are included in the Wonder/Examples/Ajax/ERDivaLookExample app.

Neutral	WebObjects	Simple	Organica
D2W Neutral look reverse engineered as a Diva Theme	D2W WebObjects look reverse engineered as a Diva Theme	Simple theme from css Zen Garden	Organica theme from css Zen Garden
Included in ERDivaLookExample	Included in ERDivaLookExample	Shawn Chin schin@shawnchin.net	Eduardo Cesario design@criaturacreativa.com.ar

The graphics designer Eduardo Cesario wrote up his experience of developing his Organica design for an early prototype of ERDivaLook on his blog.

HowTos

Features

1. CSS Themes

CSS theme you give your application is fully-customizable.
However, Diva lacks CSS theming tools (such as jQuery ThemeRoller).

Instead, the CSS themes need to be hand-rolled.

2. Scriptaculous Effects

The effects library used for ERDivaLook is Wonder's choice - Scriptaculous.

3. Javascript Widgets

The widgets used in Diva include:

• accordion
• date picker
• modal dialog
• modal window

They are all in the Prototype+Scriptaculous family.

4. Ajax

Wonder and Prototype provide the Ajax functionality in Diva.
Support for turning on property-level Ajax updates is included (for to-one and to-many relationships on edit pages).