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It might be helpful to think of a component as a kit that comes pre-assembled as one thing, but is also build-your-own. You can use the pre-set defaults as is, or change them to work how you would like - the nature of a component let's you modify anything and everything about it to get it the way you want.
Types of components
Little Component -
View Component -
Renderer Component -
Infusion's Framework Features
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Fluid Skinning System - using context-rich class names in your templates, FSS not only helps to style your page, but adds flexibility to your layout, allowing it to be modified by the UI Options component for example, or for mobile or print versions.
Events - a system of firers and listeners
Types of components
Different combinations of component pieces
Little Component - just options
View Component - options, dom binder, events
Renderer Component - view stuff + renderer
Evented Component - little + events
Start Coding
Now it's time to dig in. The best place to start will probably be to create a component from scratch. Let's try making the bar-graph component mentioned above over at Creating a Component.