Why I dont see YUI used that much often

Question

I have been using jQuery/Prototype/ExtJs and other frameworks for last two years. These frameworks have been very useful.

I switched to YUI recently and finding the learning curve a bit too steep. Also the framework is not making my life as easy as with Extjs or Jquery.

When I consulted several other developers no one seems to be very enthusiastic about YUI. Very few of them have actually used it. Of course this depends on where I stay and what kind of people I interact with but can I say safely that YUI is not beign received as enthusiastically as jQuery? Why is it so ?

Answer 1

Akshar -- my response is YUI-centric, for sure, but the YUI developer community is huge, enthusiastic, and growing. Check out http://yuiblog.com/blog/category/in-the-wild for some of the implementations we've seen recently. In addition to what's out there in open source, the Yahoo! home page, Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and the upcoming redesign of Yahoo! Mail are all based on YUI 3, the next generation of the library -- which has been welcomed by developers as having industrial strength power along with the concision and selector-driven syntax that makes libraries like Prototype and jQuery so fun to use. My advice: Try it out. YUI 3 is a unique, incredibly powerful library, and its 200 community contributed gallery modules (a number that grows by the week) make it one of the most comprehensive libraries out there.

Answer 2

NB: I'm an engineer on the YUI team! I think you ask a great question, something I have wondered myself.

IMO, jQuery is more widespread than YUI because it is easy to sprinkle it on web pages that need simple DOM manipulations and basic AJAX or animations. That said, YUI is an extremely popular library that has historically been a favorite of more advanced developers and application builders. We do have a huge and thriving online community on yuilibrary.com -- perhaps folks are too busy writing great code to make a lot of noise? ;-)

That said, we are hearing a lot of buzz these days from jQuery folks hitting the limits of that library as they transition from throwing together simple effects to needing more maintainable, performant, and well-architected code. YUI 3 takes you from the basics to the most complex applications without missing a beat. It is a world-class platform for novices, hackers, and application developers alike: a concise, convenient, and intuitive API that is lightweight and lightning fast, PLUS a well-thought-out infrastructure and comprehensive suite of tools to help you code like a professional.

I agree that the learning curve for YUI has been high -- we are in the midst of a website redesign and writing an O'Reilly cookbook to address exactly that issue. We're also hosting our second annual YUIConf this November to unveil our latest and greatest. We've coming a long way since the days of YUI 2 and we're excited to make it as easy as possible for folks like you to ramp up on YUI 3.

Answer 3

As a user of both jQuery and YUI, I have to admit that I look at them in almost completely different lights. I use jQuery for custom effects, animation, interactivity on our externally-facing website. The visual extensibility of jQuery means that we can customize the look and feel of these elements to match the rest of our website. I've used YUI as a quick and easy way to develop a snazzy front interface for some of our internal applications. These internal applications are simple Apache/MySQL/PHP apps, and YUI allows for simplified data visualization, form handling, tabs, etc. without having to worry about the look and feel as much. The standardized, slightly bland interface elements are a perfect, no-nonsense approach to quickly developing and rolling out these apps.

I found the learning curve to be a bit steep myself, but the examples help out a lot.