Flex, JS libraries like (JQuery, YUI, Prototype) or Silverlight, JavaFx ? ? ? What should we go for ?

Question

If any one want to start developing new web application with real cool and reliable UI, good throughput, maintainability, scalability which one can be the winner ? Also which one can be the winner in case we are migrating age old sites with new look and feel?

Answer 1

The lowest common denominator is still HTML + Javascript, but designed to work without Javascript. There are a few things where a rich media plugin might be necessary, but I'd reserve their use for those cases.

Answer 2

jQuery! Brings a website to life with animations and AJAX, and the themeroller allows you to skin it to suite your site!

We use jQuery at work and nothing else when it comes to js wrappers.. mainly because it's cross-platform.

Answer 3

It depends on what you are building. For scalability and throughput Flex can be a great option because more happens on the client (reducing the number of server calls) and the AMF protocol makes sending data across the wire super fast. Check out my Census RIA Test to compare AMF with other options. Also check out Tour de Flex to see some of the thousands of Flex components that you can use to assemble your app.

Answer 4

As intimated above, it depends.

Some other factors to consider though: What is the environment within which you intend to use it? Is it for personal development? If so you may want to look at free/low cost development options. Is it for a company? In which case you (or others) may be concerned with supportability, corporate skills-mix, environments, etc,etc.

I suspect you'll not get an answer to the question as it stands. Maybe a better idea of what you are wanting is needed?

An even then, it'll probably boil down to personal preference. Stackoverflow is very jQuery oriented (significantly more so than any other JavaScript framework), so expect bias towards this.