I recently came across the release of 280 Slides, and my first impression was pure astonishment. The interface is stunningly reminiscent of Apple’s Mac OS design; many are already calling it “Keynote on the web.” While competitors like Google Docs focus heavily on collaboration and sharing features, 280 Slides seems to prioritize a seamless, high-fidelity user experience (UX) that rivals desktop applications.
In a recent podcast interview, the team behind the project—Ross Boucher, Tom Robinson, and Francisco Tolmasky—shared insights into their design philosophy and future roadmap.
The Power of Objective-J
The secret sauce behind this desktop-class web app is a new language they created called Objective-J.
Conceptually, Objective-J does for JavaScript what Objective-C did for C. It is a strict superset of JavaScript that adds Smalltalk-style messaging and inheritance. If you are familiar with Objective-C, the syntax will look instantly familiar, complete with the characteristic square brackets [] for method calls.
When the browser loads a .j file, it parses and dynamically compiles this code into standard JavaScript that the browser can execute. This abstraction allows developers to build complex, object-oriented applications using paradigms traditionally reserved for desktop software, without sacrificing the ubiquity of the web.
Cappuccino Framework
Building on top of Objective-J is their UI framework, Cappuccino.
Cappuccino takes a radical approach: it abstracts away the DOM. Developers using Cappuccino don’t need to manipulate HTML or wrestle with CSS quirks. Instead, they build interfaces using classes like CPWindow, CPButton, and CPView, mirroring the Cocoa frameworks found on macOS (NSWindow, NSButton, etc.).
This allows web developers to focus purely on application logic and interface construction rather than document flow. It was born out of necessity—the three founders started this project in college and realized that to build the kind of rich web application they envisioned, they first needed to build a robust underlying framework.
Open Source Future
Perhaps the most exciting news is that Objective-J will be open source. The team plans to make the entire stack available at objective-j.org (site pending launch).
Releasing a framework is no small feat. Beyond just the code, they face the significant challenges of choosing the right open-source license, setting up version control systems, and writing comprehensive documentation. It is a massive undertaking, but one that could fundamentally change how we build rich web applications.
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