Details - Web 2.0 & AJAX :: Recommendation: TrickScripter JS Optimizer/Obfuscator

Hi,

for those frequently building Javascript applications from within Dreamweaver, let me tell you about a very nice Dreamweaver extension I have come to love, made by Ukranian developer Val Polyakh.

http://www.trickyscripter.com/

The extension contains two commands for optimizing/obfuscating Javascript code, either a whole JS file or just a javascript section for inline scripts. I usually achieve significant optimization results (between 40 and 50%!) when optimizing well-structured scripts. TrickyScripter shortens variable names where possible, removes comments, tabs, spaces, line-breaks etc. and returns very compact code.

Since the product is dubbed "obfuscator" as well, don't expect too much of a classic obfuscation result though. It's still pretty easy to beautify the code again, so it doesn't actually provide protection against unwanted reverse-engineering (or whatever you call it for JavaScript). Still it does make the code hard to read.

The biggest advantage to me still is that you don't have to optimize scripts for size when writing them, you can structure and comment them well and then simply optimize them for deployment and save both versions. So it actually helps me write cleaner, well-documented scripts AND have lean scripts to deploy in my sites.

There's a free trial available, and the full version costs USD 29,95. Val also provides a few free goodies, such as a JS Syntax checker.

Enjoy,

Bernd