Mootoos 1.2 Beta has landed and if you plan on using it soon, you need to get cracking porting & learning the new API.

Some of the changes:

• Test Suite Integration
• Fx.Tween & Fx.Morph to Fx.Style
• Hashables
• Sortables (brand  new version)
• Number Math integration
• Improved object inheritance with Extend & Implement

Read all about it here:
http://blog.mootools.net/2007/11/14/mootools-1-2-beta-1

via Clientside

Today we continue our series exploring the way spacial data is handled in Javascript toolkits with a look at mootools.  (Read Previous Installments on jQuery and prototype).   Similar to prototype, mootools includes dimensioning information in the Element Object.  Unlike prototype, mootools includes positioning information there as well.  Window & Document level information is contained separately in Window.size.js

Element Dimension & Position Properties (Element.Dimensions.js):

•  scrollTo(): Scrolls an element to a specified position (in some toolkits, scroll to scrolls the container to the specified element).
• getSize(): Returns an Object representing all size & scroll values of the elemen.
• getPosition(): Returns the real offsets of the element (relative to document).
• getTop: Returns the top position of the element (relative to the window).
• getLeft: Returns the left position of the element (relative to the window).

The Window dimensions (Window.Size.js):

• getWidth: Returns width Window
• getScrollWidth: Returns width of Document
• getHeight: Returns height of Window
• getScrollHeight: Returns height of Document
• getScrollLeft: Determine current left offset of viewport relative to document.
• getScrollTop: Determine current vertical offset of viewport relative to document.
• getSize: Same as Element.getSize.

Next time, we’ll look at YUI.

If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to add tabs to your next project.  It doesn’t get simpler than Mootabs: a lightweight tab widget in mootools.

Key Features:

• Able to retrieve tab contents via AJAX
• CSS Styling
• Transition effects
• Simplified Markup

I’ve noticed the transitions can be a bit coarse and distracting so I recomend using mootabs without strong transitions if possible.

Get Mootabs Here: http://www.silverscripting.com/mootabs/

As of 1.2, the Mootools Hash plugin has been promoted to a Native type.  Basically, a Hash is a wrapper for native Javascript objects (keeping things OO all the way & preventing attacks on the Object Prototype). 

What it does:

• Provides a wrapper for associative arrays.
• Works just like a traditional Mootools Array (Each is your friend)
• Supports Generics.

Read more about Hashes in Mootools 1.2 here:

http://blog.mootools.net/2007/10/8/what-s-new-in-1-2-the-hash

For most developers, the most noticeable change with Mootools 1.2 is the deprecation of the incredible FX.style & FX.styles libraries in favor of the new Fx.Tween & Fx.Morph.  So what’s the difference?  It’s really a name change to more accurately describe the behavior and use of the two different tools.

What’s pretty incredible though, is how powerful the revamped Fx.Morph has become.  You can now smoothly transition from any given class in your CSS stylesheet smoothly.  This fully separates the behavior (e.g. A smooth transition to an error state) from the CSS defined appearance of that Error state. 

If the property cannot be calculated, it will be set at the start of the transition.

Lastly, the "wait" option has been replaced with a new "chain" option.  This allows  you to simply append effects at the end of the sequence currently being executed.

Read More on the Mootools Blog

http://blog.mootools.net/2007/10/23/The_Best_Javascript_Effects_Now_Even_Better