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Improving ixEdit

ixedit is an in-browser interaction editor that provides a succint code at the end, making it a better alternative than the jquery plugin forest out there. check below for a must-watch video tutorial.
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I’ve been using ixedit on my projects, and it’s a godsend. Since much of internet community is still on the discovery mode, I’m moving the discussion ahead by proposing some improvements.

simplify reediting

Currently it’s only possible to edit a already-deployed HTML page if user saves the code previously by exporting it. That’s misleading.
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Ixedit has to either:

  • accept deployed code on import (best: you can start from someone’s else code & improve it) or
  • automatically export code in-browser by history when visiting page on browser, with ixedit mode on.

plugin-friendly

Jquery plugins nowadays allow plenty of cool interactions, but add clutter to the final project with all unused options.
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Ixedit creates a more succint & integrated code, but even with all prepackaged features it has nowadays - modals, tabs, accordions, datepicker - it will always be behind plugins if edit is top-down.
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The solution is to create a path-to-ixedit plugin conversion, allowing plugin developers to easily adapt their code to ixedit.
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Since there’s no standard for jquery plugins - some are zip files, some are just tutorials, folder structure is dissimilar - maybe ixedit can become a normalizer. And since deployed code only publishes code that’s actually used, that’s more stability and less bugs.
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Examples of functionality ixedit currently lacks: tooltips, multiselect, menus with subselections, form validation, scrolling functions…

snippets

Along with migrating existing plugins to ixedit, ixedit users should be able to store their interactions for later use.
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The simplest way is a page that shows all ixedit code edited on this browser, all stored locally. It lacks sharing but it solves the automatic export issue and is fairly secure - history is browser-dependent.
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A more mature way is a snippet community under ixedit site, along with permissions, rating system, taxonomy & demo pages. It follows the normalizing policy that jquery community so badly needs.
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