Standards-based Open Source components library allows developers to quickly and easily create business Web applications without worrying about technical details
Forest Hill, MD —14 February 2017— The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today the availability of Apache® MyFaces™ Tobago 3, the user interface components for creating business applications without the need for coding HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
A sub-project of Apache MyFaces (the Open Source implementation of JavaServer Faces Web application framework that accomplishes the Model-View-Controller paradigm), Tobago is a component library for JavaServer Faces (JSF). The project was originally created at Atanion GmbH in 2002, and was donated to the Apache Incubator in 2005. Tobago graduated as Apache MyFaces sub-project in 2006.
"With a commitment to reduce the time and effort spent on development and deployment, the unofficial Tobago tagline is 'less magic, more standards'," said Udo Schnurpfeil, member of the Apache MyFaces Project Management Committee. "We are are happy that Tobago 3 helps users get their applications up and running even more quickly and easily."
By omitting the need to code HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, Tobago allows users to easily create business Web applications, and emulates the development process of conventional user interfaces (rather than the creation of Web pages) via:
- UI components abstracted from HTML, along with any layout information that does not belong to the general page structure. The final output format is determined by the client/user-agent;
- A theming mechanism that makes it easy to change the look-and-feel and provides special implementations for certain browsers; and
- A layout manager used to arrange the components automatically. This means that no manual laying out using HTML tables or other constructs is needed.
Under The Hood
Apache MyFaces Tobago 3's increased responsiveness and standardization makes it easier to integrate libraries and other projects. Features include:
- Layout-management moved to CSS and JavaScript to natively achieve layout requirements and make rendering more efficient and responsive;
- Themes using CSS library Bootstrap 4 make it easy to obtain a modern and rich design; and
- Use of current technologies such as SCSS, CSS3, HTML5, AJAX, JSF and, Theming on pure CSS base further simplifies the development experience.
Apache Tobago dramatically reduces developer resources and programming time, providing individuals and organizations with improved productivity and ease of implementation.
"For over 10 years we have been working closely with the Tobago team. The close collaboration has been mutually beneficial. Currently we are working on more than 60 intranet applications based on Apache Tobago. We see the new features from Tobago 3 as a significant architectural leap – in particular the innovations with ajax, theming, and responsive design. We expect a fast project adoption – even with the associated migration costs," said Rainer Rohloff, Senior Software Architect at Norddeutsche Landesbank. "We look forward to working on additional projects with the Tobago team in the future."
"It's great to see many users adopt Tobago," added Schnurpfeil. "We welcome new developers and users to join us on our mailing lists, MeetUps, and community events."
Availability and Oversight
Apache MyFaces software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, release notes, documentation, and more information on Apache MyFaces, visit
http://myfaces.apache.org/ and
https://twitter.com/MyFacesTeamAbout The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)
Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than 350 leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server –the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 620 individual Members and 5,900 Committers successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Alibaba Cloud Computing, ARM, Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Capital One, Cerner, Cloudera, Comcast, Confluent, Facebook, Google, Hortonworks, HP, Huawei, IBM, InMotion Hosting, iSigma, LeaseWeb, Microsoft, OPDi, PhoenixNAP, Pivotal, Private Internet Access, Produban, Red Hat, Serenata Flowers, WANdisco, and Yahoo. For more information, visit
http://www.apache.org/ and
https://twitter.com/TheASF© The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "MyFaces", "Apache MyFaces", "Tobago", "Apache MyFaces Tobago", and "ApacheCon" are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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