JS Devs - I think if you can open up your minds and take a look at what is actually a new and interesting approach to a JS framework, you'll be glad you did. Take a look at the examples. There's definitely some potential with this one.
The above seems awfully close to a dogmatic sort of "if you don't get it, the fault is with you" kind of statement.
Here's an example slideshow application's source: http://oinksoft.com/static/js/jig.example.js
And here's Jig.js, use at your own risk: http://oinksoft.com/static/js/Jig.js
Erm, license ... how about MIT? MIT license it is.
The `slides' array is my data store, and the `presenter' object handles clearing out the page for the next slide. The actual app logic is tiny, but right away you get hash URLs, easy dispatching to actions, and a very simple controller/action model that can actually be even lighter than this example shows (for instance, you can choose to define no controllers at all, and just have an action list, kind of like Sinatra).
It doesn't use HTML5 History, and I'm sure it has all types of subtle issues because, like I said, it's only for internal use. But I see people are interested in tools like this, so I thought I'd let you all see :^)
The current popular offerings are HEAVY (Backbone, Ember, Angular) but I'm not going to release something that isn't industrial strength.
People shouldn't be so harsh to independent authors. I feel differently about large companies like Google and Microsoft, who get extreme value out of open source.
There's a reason I don't release many handy tools like the one linked in this comment, and it's because I expect a torrent of criticism to follow (which I can handle) and I'm not interested in changing it at all except for my own purposes (and so I'd just feel guilty).
The mantra of the critique culture is that you are not your ideas. Criticism of the idea does not imply criticism of the author – at least not in my world.
In any case, my main reason for withholding things is the "guilt" factor I mention at the end of my previous comment.
Binding URLs to functions and dispatch strings is all I need for a great many small projects; I have a very easy time managing the DOM with my own widgets and managing data with simple JavaScript objects. So the "heavy" part can be having to learn which parts of the API I do or don't need, reading through tutorial docs, etc.