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On August 7, 2012

Telerik’s Kendo UI offers up a complex set of design tools for building Web, mobile, and data visualizations that translate languages for cross platform use. The problem with Kendo, like most development environment, is that they’re very complex to get started in.

“The Kendo UI Dojo gives developers interested in HTML5 mobile development the perfect starting point by providing a guided, interactive learning experience. In minutes, developers can learn how to build an app that looks and feels native on iOS, Android, and Blackberry, all built with HTML5, JavaScript, and Kendo UI Mobile. The Dojo makes it easy for anyone to jump-in to mobile app development and preview the results in real-time. It’s an awesome learning experience that quickly shows the power and productivity HTML5 can deliver for mobile development,” says Todd Anglin, VP HTML5 Web & Mobile Tools.

That’s why the guys at Telerik have decided to launch an HTML5 tool for quickly learning the develop, called Kendo Dojo. It’s a browser-based environment for getting a feel for designing inside their environment before putting down a significant chunk of cash to build your new app (which is like Path, but for “Pinning”).  Most user interfaces are pretty pricey, with a limited chance to actually play inside, and for the most part reviews aren’t that helpful when it comes to something as complex as a development tools. Dojo lets you feel out the UI without downloading a massive demo (one that spams you with reminders to register) or paying outright.

While the biggest issue for most user interfaces is pricing – which runs from $199 for a single development environment to $999 for the full set of environments – Telerik’s Kendo has decided to offer up Kendo Dojo for free, to learn the art of battling code inside their products before making that big purchase. It runs through the different programs, so users can experience the environment inside their browser. Users don’t even have to register a user name.

The team has been quickly building out the platform over the past few months with several new releases, specifically targeting smartphones and tablets for building rich app environments, but they also recently launched support for creating Web-based applications. As well, the user interface is pretty unique, in that it allows users to build on its platform using HTML5 and Javascript for creating those native-looking apps.

Kendo is part of the Telerik family, which has been building interface, team collaboration, and productivity tools since 2002. Kendo is also quite unique in that it provides interactive previews of all the different development environments you choose to develop in.

Kendo is a framework for building native, hybrid, and browser-based mobile apps, and was one of the only development environments featured earlier in the year at Google I/O for developing on Chrome. As well, it earned two gold medals from Project Code for “HTML5 Tools” and best “Frameworks and Mobile Development.”