YUI and/or jQuery for a new project?

Question

If I am starting a new project how should I pick between using YUI 2, YUI 3 and jQuery?

I know there are a bunch of questions/answers already about can you use them together, but I am trying to figure out what criteria I should be thinking about to make my decision.

Are they overlapping?
Is one better at GUI and the other better at internals? Do they play well together? My understanding from other questions is that they can live in different namespaces, so they can live together, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is good to use both.

Thanks!

Answer 1

We need more information about the type and size of the project before a proper library can be suggested.

For example, if you're building a semi-complex/large-ish web app, I would suggest Dojo or ExtJs. Otherwise, for smaller projects, jQuery might be more appropriate. I cannot comment on YUI as I have not used it.

Answer 2

Impossible to say without knowing more details about the project. Use jQuery or Prototype for things like DOM manipulation and making autocomplete, etc. If you need a more powerful Javascript implementation take a look at ExtJS, which is basically a full stack framework for Javascript.

Answer 3

If you are familiar with neither, I personally have found jQuery's documentation and API easier to understand than YUI's, at least for simpler things. It also appears there is more jQuery related information than YUI on stackoverflow.

YUI does have its users and supporters though, so check it out in case you end up finding it suitable for you. It's got a huge library of additional modules you can use for complex web applications.

My usual advice would be to go with whatever you're familiar with, and I say this because I don't think it's worth dropping one to start learning the other from scratch. But if you are familiar with neither, then you should check out how easy the documentation for both is to understand.

PS I would not recommend YUI2 if you're starting anew as it has been superceded by YUI3, which is much better designed.

Answer 4

Both are JS frameworks and there to help you. YUI is known to be more natural in them and more closer to the original Javascript while jQuery is known as more easy and you find more jQuery users and support around then YUI. However, as said earlier, it depends on the project, if it is likely that you will be making your own custom widgets, I will suggest you to go with YUI but if it's like a simple e-commerce website in which you just need some fancy galleries and shopping cart, go with jQuery, you will learn and implement that quickly. I am not saying that you can not go more in depth with jQuery but my impression is that jQuery is more of a CakePHP for PHP like of framework which gets you off the grounds quickly. In my opinion there is no need for you to use them side by side in a single project, that will just produce the over-head as both do whatever you want to do in them i.e creating dialog panels, autocomplete quick searches, event related utilities etc.

I am writing down a series of beginner and mid-level tutorials for YUI users, let me know if you find them useful or if there is anything else where I can help. http://ciitronian.com/blog/tag/yui/