HTML5 ARTICLE

September 16, 2013

Famo.us Readies Private Beta


If you’ve been following the progression of Famo.us, you’ll know that the framework has been a long time coming — at least in the fast-paced HTML5 space. In reality, it was about a year ago that the company called Famo.us laid out plans to release a Javascript framework of the same name meant specifically for building complex, yet smooth HTML5 apps.

Indeed, the company promised that developers would be able to build very rich, graphics-intensive interfaces that would still run in any Web browser at an above-average 40 frames per second without the need for plug-ins. Since then, there have been developments — such as Famo.us raising $4 million in Series A funding from investors back in March — but no word on when developers would get to try out the framework — until now, that is.

According to the folks over at TechCrunch, Famo.us will be letting a handful of developers out of the 57,000 that signed up for beta access play around with its framework in the coming weeks. To be exact, a mere 40 developers will be selected to come to the Famo.us office in San Francisco to help stress test the framework prior to a broader release.

Earlier this year, Famo.us announced that its platform would be available for free at launch, which still appears to be the case.

The Famo.us framework stands apart from more straightforward HTML5 app development by enabling Web apps to use a device’s graphics processor in a unique way, resulting in the promised frame rate of around 40 frames per second. So far, the company has only showed demonstrations of what the framework can do — such as the nifty periodic table of elements demo that runs when you visit the Famo.us website — so excitement is likely high among those who signed up for beta access.

Meanwhile, the company also recently hired one of Facebook’s (NewsAlert) founding development platform engineers, Dave Fetterman, as vice president of engineering. Fetterman, it seems, is chasing the HTML5 dream as he left Facebook after the company announced that it would shift away from HTML5 and toward native apps.




Edited by Alisen Downey





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