Future Direction
I will be talking about the future direction for Rico over my next few posts. Here is what I plan on covering.

Goals
Rico’s Future With Other Javascript Libraries
Upcoming Behaviors and Features
I would love to hear others thoughts as I start posting these.

OK, lets start with the general goals.

Goal 1 – Stay out of the web developers way.
I think this is very important area that Rico can provide a lot of value. The integration with Rico should be simple and should not cause the developer to change their entire web app.

Goal 2 – Keep it simple.
This is a bit obvious, but I thought it to be worth repeating. I want to err on the side of being too simple of an interface and add those things that are really needed. Rico will focus on helping with the real needs. It will not try to be a kitchen sink.

Goal 3 – Pleasure to use.
The developer should have both a joyful and yet brief usage of Rico. It should not take long to get the desired behaviors and yet should be a joy
to work with.

Goal 4 – Should work well with the simplest of technologies.
Rico should not try to replace the act of creating html and css. It should simply enhance the experience.

Goal 5 – Should be easy to expand.
This is an area that 1.1 is a bit weak in. The library should be simpler to expand without having to rip and tear.

Goal 6 – Should be inovative.
Well duh… However, I really feel that there is a lot of value for Rico to be a platform for exploring rich interaction øf content on the web. It will not be ‘just another widget library’ duplicating the desktop. Rico will continue to have unique behaviors that will push the envelope.

Goal 7 – Should complement not compete.
This should be evident based on the other goals, but I think it is worth repeating.