ZK Developer's Guide

Getting Started with ZK
The world of web application development grows and grows. We can read many
articles and books that explain how to develop a web application. Nearly every
week a new framework emerges in the sphere of development. However, each new
technology and framework means that we have to learn it. Without learning, it's not
possible to leverage the complete power of the chosen technique. There are some
reasons for the emergence of such a wide range of possibilities for developing a web
application. The evolution of technology is one reason, and another is the demand
for a faster and more efficient way to develop a web application. Each developer has
his or her own preference for the way of development. However, not only issues in
development demand new ways of building a web application. The big picture is
about Web 2.0 and the underlying techniques AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and
XML) also need new ways.
With ZK the developer gets a new alternative for solving the daily problems that
occur in web projects and for building Web 2.0 applications. Through the chapters of
this book, we show how to develop applications with ZK. After reading it and trying
the framework there should be no need for more convincing.
Before we dive into the ZK framework it's important to clarify that this introductory
chapter is not a replacement for the developers' guide from ZK (see http://www.
zkoss.org/doc/ZK-devguide.pdf). The aim of this chapter is to give you an
understanding of the basics and some important aspects of ZK, which are essential
for daily development with the framework.
The following browsers are supported by ZK:
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Internet Explorer 6+/7
Firefox 1+
Safari 2+
Mozilla 1+
Opera 9+
Camino 1+