Google has been busy developing new tools related to developers of JavaScript web-apps, web retailers and also released the Dashboard offering more control and transparency to users account data.
Introducing Closure Tools
Millions of Google users worldwide use JavaScript-intensive applications such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Maps. Like developers everywhere, Googlers want great web apps to be easier to create, so the Google has built many tools to help them develop these (and many other) apps. Today, the company announced the open sourcing of these tools, making them available to the web development community.
Closure Compiler
Closure Compiler is a JavaScript optimizer that compiles web apps down into compact JavaScript code. The compiler removes dead code, then rewrites and minimizes what's left so that it will run fast on browsers' JavaScript engines. The compiler also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about other common JavaScript pitfalls. These checks and optimizations help developers write apps that are less buggy and easier to maintain. They can use the compiler with Closure Inspector, a Firebug extension that makes debugging the obfuscated code almost as easy as debugging the human-readable source.
Because JavaScript developers are a diverse bunch, Google has set up a number of ways to run the Closure Compiler. They have open-sourced a command-line tool. A web application that accepts developers' code for compilation through a text box or a RESTful API has been created. Google is also offering a Firefox extension that developers can use with Page Speed to conveniently see the performance benefits for their web pages.
Closure Library
Closure Library is a broad, modular, and cross-browser JavaScript library. Web developers can pull just what they need from a wide set of reusable UI widgets and controls, as well as lower-level utilities for the DOM, server communication, animation, data structures, unit testing, rich-text editing, and much, much more.
Closure Templates
Closure Templates grew out of a desire for web templates that are precompiled to efficient JavaScript. Closure Templates have a simple syntax that is natural for programmers. Unlike traditional templating systems, developers can think of Closure Templates as small components that they compose to form their user interface, instead of having to create one big template per page.
Closure Templates are implemented for both JavaScript and Java, so develoeprs can use the same templates both on the server and client side.
Searching the e-store: Google Commerce Search
Google also today announced a new hosted enterprise search product, Google Commerce Search, to power online retail stores and e-commerce websites.
Google Commerce Search promises to bring retailers fast speed and accuracy, by leveraging Google's platform to provide sub-second response time to customer queries. Commerce Search also uses proprietary ranking technology to analyze the products in each data feed and serve the most relevant match.
E-commerce-specific search features, like parametric search, sorting, spell checker, stemming, and synonym suggestions are also provided by Google Commerce Search. These features allow users to easily refine their searches. Retail-specific features like product promotions and product boost allow administrators to fine-tune their marketing approach in real-time and maximize conversions.
The platform also offers deployment and scaling ease, because Commerce Search is hosted by Google and fully based in the cloud. Retailers can implement the tool quickly and don't need to worry about maintenance. Using the hosted Google platform also allows retailers to scale without concern for seasonal peaks or valleys.
Retailers can also measure changing conversion rates through Commerce Search integration with Google Analytics on their website. E-commerce vendors benefit from providing a single feed of their catalog items to power Google Commerce Search for their website store and for indexing on Google Product Search.
Learn more about Google Commerce Search at
www.google.com/commercesearch.
Transparency, choice and control complete with a Dashboard
Lastly, Google has announced the launch of Google Dashboard. The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with a user's account in one location.
"Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data. In the past, we've taken numerous steps in this area, investing in educating our users with our Privacy Center, making it easier to move data in and out of Google with our Data Liberation Front, and allowing you to control the ads you see with interest-based advertising. Transparency, choice and control have become a key part of Google's philosophy, and today, we're happy to announce that we're doing even more," Google's engineers posted at a company's blog.
Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that someone uses (when signed in to his/her account) and provides direct links to control his/her personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. Llearn more at
www.google.com/dashboard.