Client and Server-Side Backbone plus Show and Tell

Hello Backbone Hackers. We've got a great Meetup lined up for March. Spike Brehm from AirBnB will talk about Rendr, a framework on top of Backbone and Express to support rendering your backbone code on the client and the server. Come get an early look at this exciting project.

We'll also do Show and Tell sessions, and I'm sure there will be many new projects to share since our last meeting. As usual, if you want to show off your awesome project or want the group to brainstorm, bring your ideas (and let us know beforehand, to secure you a time slot).

This month we'll be meeting at Rackspace in SOMA. Rackspace is not only providing a great venue, but they're also ordering a keg of good beer! Following the talk we'll cap off the evening at Fly Trap next door. So come unwind, share ideas, and make some new friends!

Hope to see you all there!

Cole, Eric & Ulf

Here is a description of Rendr to whet your appetite:

Run your Backbone.js apps on the client and server using Rendr

Have you ever ever had that sneaky feeling that the way we build webapps today is broken? Either build a snappy JavaScript app, or serve SEO-friendly HTML. Either optimize for initial page load performance, or rich user interactions. Write currency and date formatting twice, in two different languages. Render some of the page in Rails, and then tape it together with JavaScript.

Spike is here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way. He'll discuss Rendr, Airbnb's open source library for running Backbone.js apps seamlessly in both the browser and in Node.js. With Rendr, you write your entire application in JavaScript: views, models, collections, controllers, templates, routes. In the client, your app re-renders in response to pushState events, changing the URL as the user navigates. But hit refresh, and an Express server uses the same code to generate the exact same page. Now, you too can use Rendr for fun and profit.