node-why

why

Off-load expensive rendering operations to your back-end cloud servers, using the magic of nodejs.

Never again will you suffer from cross-browser inconsistencies, with this powerful application server (or "app server", if you prefer), all users, everywhere, get an 100% equal rendered page.

Demo: http://why-demo.herokuapp.com/

But how??

why (name pending) acts as a proxy to your static web application, by capturing requests, and dispatching them to a phantomjs instance, which captures a screenshot of your webpage, in its ideal webkit environment, at the correct dimensions for the user's device, and embeds it in a light-weight frame.

Pros:

• it's ajaxy
• faster
• webkit
• nodejs?!
• retina ready probably
• web scale
• renders cross-browser issues a thing of the past
• webkit

Cons:

• none

Are you serious?

Well, it does actually work. Yes, you can even click links...mostly.

Usage:

1. Install nodejs, npm.
2. Install phantomjs, make sure it's in your $PATH: $ npm -g install phantomjs
3. Clone this repo: $ git clone https://github.com/filp/why.git
4. Install dependencies: $ cd why && npm install
5. Start the server: $ cd why && bin/server.js [--port 8181 --privPort 9292 --root /path/to/your/app]
6. Check it :cat:

To-do:

• Add a kick-ass example web app