Enyo 2.1 app framework lands with improved theming and globalization support 18

While HP was able to deliver on their roadmap for Open webOS, spitting out the first version of the open source successor to webOS on schedule at the end of September, Enyo's been lagging behind a bit. The roadmap called for the application framework to hit version 2.1 in April, and it just so happened to land at the end of October instead (if you're doing the math, yes, October is as far from April as one can get before getting closer to the next April). Enyo's seen a number of updates since the first Enyo 2.0 beta was released back in January, but hitting that x.1 mark took a while. Of course, they did have to content with rebuilding the core of the development team; that's enough to delay any project for a few months, so we'll cut them some slack.

Enyo 2.1 is here now, and it includes a number of features we're sure cross-platform app developers will find interesting. There's LESS-based theming support, which enables developers to customize the already-released Onyx user interface widgets in a dynamic and variable manner. The global localization library from the TouchPad - g11n - has now been open-sourced with Enyo 2.1, making it easier to format dates, times, and numbers for the locale in which your Enyo 2.0-based app is being used.

Additionally, the Enyo team has moved Chrome for Android and iOS 6 to their "Tier 1" support level, which translates to these platforms getting the highest priority when it comes to fixing bugs, correcting for changes in the platform, and other testing bits. They'll be adding Internet Explorer 10 to Enyo 2.1 support (including Windows 8 touch events) as well as the Amazon Kindle Fire HD Android-based platform.

Lastly, Enyo 2.1 includes the release of a handful of new user interface widgets to make it easier to build your apps. Onyx now includes a new range slider and localizable date and time picker widgets. The layout library has also received a new ImageView widget that supports multitouch zooming and panning. The Enyo Sampler has been updated with these new widgets, so you can try them out and know how they look and behave before adding them to your app.