Morfik - create web sites in BASIC (and it's free!)

[weavster]

I've just stumbled across this: http://www.morfik.com/#news/2010/November

It's got a really nice IDE with auto-completion etc... and you can use it to create web sites using a VB like syntax.

Pascal and C# versions are also available.

[codewalker]

Looks interesting, thanks for the link. I code websites in any way I want with PHP5 and MySQL.
Simple question : can Morfik do anything more ? If it only compiles your websource code to
a plain mix of ccs, java, xml, etc, etc, then you go back in time when websites were designed
instead of being programmed in (php) code.
cw

[Zach]

Seems pretty capable to me. Seems similar to Ruby on Rails for web development

http://wiki.morfik.com/wiki3/Whats_New

[Rook Zimbabwe]

It does seem to have issues with both widescreen and if you have your favorites bar stuck to the side of the browser window like lazy old me!

But still... I plan on playing with it soon... I usually just use HTML anyway... old fashioned I know... but wheeee!!!

[codewalker]

I found this on wiki :

not allowing developers to access CSS stylesheets for the sites they are creating and not producing an application
which could have clean and meaningful URLs.

it aims at software developers not web developers: Some say that Morfik's emphasis on coding in an object-oriented
language such as Object Pascal or C# instead of directly coding in JavaScript significantly under-utilizes the skills
and knowledge of existing web developers, the vast majority of whom are far more skilled in CSS, HTML and JavaScript
than in Java. Morfik however, chose to focus on the traditional desktop and client/server software developer.

Creating web applications in a manner that is akin to win32 applications, (for example, if deploying onto a Windows-based
server, the web application is output as a .exe file. This makes it hard for many businesses to use their existing web
hosting packages to host a Morfik-created web application.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morfik

[weavster]

Looks interesting, thanks for the link. I code websites in any way I want with PHP5 and MySQL.
Simple question : can Morfik do anything more ? If it only compiles your websource code to
a plain mix of ccs, java, xml, etc, etc, then you go back in time when websites were designed
instead of being programmed in (php) code.
cw

I don't mind the PHP and JavaScript, it's really the HTML and CSS I want to avoid getting bogged down in. I've not really done any web stuff but I have used Gnome Seed and PHP-Gtk so I know I like the two scripting languages.

Now I've found this: Qooxdoo which pretty well eliminates the HTML / CSS bit as it enables you to define your interface in JavaScript and then you can just apply themes for the styling.

What I really want to do is design the client side of my web app entirely in JavaScript and just get my PHP files to return JSON objects rather than web pages, I guess that's doable isn't it?

[Nituvious]

I hate javascript with a passion!!
If this allows me to avoid it when it is required(html5...) then I'd definitely use this!

[weavster]

I hate javascript with a passion!!

I would prefer to be able to do both client and server side in Python but PHP & JavaScript's not so bad.

[Trond]

What I really want to do is design the client side of my web app entirely in JavaScript and just get my PHP files to return JSON objects rather than web pages, I guess that's doable isn't it?

It would be a stupid thing to do.

1. About 1.3% of users have JavaScript turned off. What would it do to your company's reputation if the helpdesk and sales phone lines answered 1.3% of your potential or current customers with "fuck off"? Basically this is what you're doing with such a website.

2. Search engines won't be able to index your page. How do you expect to get traffic?

[weavster]

What I really want to do is design the client side of my web app entirely in JavaScript and just get my PHP files to return JSON objects rather than web pages, I guess that's doable isn't it?

It would be a stupid thing to do.

1. About 1.3% of users have JavaScript turned off. What would it do to your company's reputation if the helpdesk and sales phone lines answered 1.3% of your potential or current customers with "fuck off"? Basically this is what you're doing with such a website.

2. Search engines won't be able to index your page. How do you expect to get traffic?

What I want to make is an internet accessible app for specific users, it's not for general consumption so in this instance the fact search engines are unlikely to pick it up would actually be an additional benefit.


I think you're being a bit melodramatic anyway, to answer your points:

1. By default I have JavaScript turned off (I have FireFox with NoScript installed), if I go to a website that requires it they usually just show a polite message saying so and if it's the site of a reputable company I turn it on. No big deal, I've never taken it as 'f**k off'.

2. There has to be one HTML page which is required to load the script in the first place so surely I could just put any phrases I want the search engine to find in that.

I confess I don't know much about web stuff but how do web sites where pages are generated on the fly from databases (like Amazon) get indexed by search engines?

[mskuma]

I downloaded & tried this tool. I tried a very basic tutorial. I found the IDE is a bit buggy & inconsistent. What turned me off was - at a certain stage of the tute, I could not get it to build anymore. It was comical - I pressed the build button, but nothing would happen. For a v3 product, I was quite amazed. There's a massive amount of bad sentiment on the forums about the new business model & lack of support. It's a shame really because I wanted it to work for me, and on the surface it looks like a world-beater app for its niche.

PB ought to consider a compiler for the web - it seems to be a new direction (allowing software developers to build web apps using familiar langs & tools, instead of having to learn HTML/javascript/CSS.

[the.weavster]

PB ought to consider a compiler for the web - it seems to be a new direction (allowing software developers to build web apps using familiar langs & tools, instead of having to learn HTML/javascript/CSS.

REAL Software are making a web edition of REALbasic.

[IdeasVacuum]

For those that do not want to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript etc there are already some very good apps dedicated to the cause.

Take a look at Serif WebPlus for example. It has a simple, graphical interface and for most small/medium sized businesses it is more than adequate. http://www.serif.com/webplus/