Ext CDN - Custom Builds, Compression, and Fast Performance

November 18, 2008 | Abraham Elias

We are pleased to announce that Ext has partnered with CacheFly, a global content network, to provide free CDN hosting for the Ext JS framework. Cachefly's globally distributed network and aggressive caching accelerate the delivery of web content like JavaScript and CSS, making for an even faster Ext experience.

The Ext CDN also provides the ability to create your own custom builds using Ext's Build It! tool, and host them on the CDN. The custom builder implements features to intelligently cache your component selections, adapter, and Ext version to create a unique custom build. These custom builds are cached across sessions and used by anyone who makes the same selections as you have - allowing for caching of custom builds across applications to fully realize the benefits of the CDN.

Creating a Custom Build

We've made the process of creating the custom build on the CDN as simple as a selecting the option.

Using the Custom build

To use your custom build on your own site, insert the output into the HEAD section of your site. If you needed to use a build with no grid or tree support you would just paste the following:

 <script type="text/javascript" src="http://extjs.cachefly.net/builds/ext-cdn-7.js"> </script>
 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://extjs.cachefly.net/ext-2.2/resources/css/ext-all.css" />

 <script type="text/javascript" src="http://extjs.cachefly.net/ext-2.2/ext-all.js"> </script>
 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://extjs.cachefly.net/ext-2.2/resources/css/ext-all.css" />

Summary

There are many ways to judge an application's performance, however none are as noticeable as the time it takes for an application to load. There are many techniques such as compression using gzip , minification using JSMin, and tools like YSlow to help developers make noticeable improvements. We hope the Ext CDN is another optimization our community will add to their toolbox.