Basics Simpltry attempts to separate the current way of attaching behavior with a website. We think it makes more sense to add custom attributes instead of tie behavior to class names. To add a date picker to your screen simply include the appropriate libraries then add simpltry_widget="date_picker" to any div. But some objects take options. Great! Pass them through with a second attribute

simpltry_options="dateString:'3/7/1979'"

now your date picker will be prepopulated starting at that date. What's the point? Well like many web developers who have been personally touched (in a good way) by the web 2.0 craze, we feel that it is important to be able to easily use implement enhanced functionality. There was an article on ALA and decided that pushed us away from associating classes with functionality (it was not semantically working for a while but this confirmed it). So it was time to go down the rabbit hole, and go the route that a lot of people end up going, custom attributes. But this is expensive! Because you either mix the logic of attaching different widgets into a common place (scour the DOM once looking for all my attributes) or I had to do it over and over looking for different attributes. The ladder was just too expensive and violated the DRY philosophy that good diligent programmers strive to fulfill.