API usability - adding wrappers for consistency

[guest]

I think that dojo should provide a wrapper for setAttribute (and potentially a few other 'unnecessary' wrappers), to improve the consistency and usability of the dojo API. I have a feeling that I have a tough sell ahead of me, so I'll discuss some of my reasons for requesting this enhancement.

I have been using Dojo 0.4.3 for a few months now (I havent upgraded to 0.9 because I need dojo.storage), and I still find myself trying to call dojo.html.setAttribute(), simply because I have gotten used to calling dojo.html.getAttribute() and dojo.html.hasAttribute().

I know that none of the browser vendors have screwed up setAttribute (yet), but that is not a detail that users should be concerned with. A user should only have to remember that attribute functions are found in dojo.html. Simple and easy to use.

Granted, adding unnecessary wrapper functions makes the dojo code-base less simple and clean, but when it comes to adoption "usability is king".

My perspective: If usability isnt important then why provide any API at all?

[tk]

Referencing discussion on DTK forums, and closing as I believe this has been covered fairly well on the forums

http://dojotoolkit.org/forum/dojo-core-dojo-0-9/dojo-core-development-discussion/api-consistency-setattribute-be-precise#comment-7363

-Karl