Which JavaScript framework is best for web development?

Question

Which JavaScript framework is best for web development?

Answer 1

My favourite framework is jQuery. I like it because it's incredibly fast to develop in and easy to integrate with PHP, Java etc.

However it doesn't have all of the UI components with other JavaScript frameworks have - it depends how much you want the framework to do for you!

Answer 2

I have used YUI in the past.

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/

It is very well documented, but the size of the js is rather on the high side.

Answer 3

JQuery here. The plugin story is fantastic, I haven't had a problem finding something for everything I've needed so far!

Answer 4

try scriptaculous.its good though it had some issues

Answer 5

jQuery has a powerful community. Yahoo yui is more complex but well documented.

Answer 6

For more UI-Widgets or Webapplications try: Adobe Spry or Cappuchino

Answer 7

Ext JS is good.

Answer 8

Ext

Is very good, there are lots of samples on the site you can check out and is backed by a strong community. It's pretty easy to get going too.

Answer 9

jQuery here too. i love it's way to attach and detach eventhandlers to everything. Never had problem with it, and used it for several big projects.

Answer 10

Ext JS is my favourite. Great framework, high quality widgets, excellent documentation and a lively forum.

Answer 11

Another vote for JQuery.

Answer 12

I work in .NET so I use the libraries built-in to the ASP.NET AJAX framework, but obviously you aren't going to choose MS AJAX just for the JS, unless you are already using that technology.

Elsewhere, I have had a look at Scriptaculous, which was OK, but only OK.

Answer 13

We've used Prototype for some time now and have had great success with it.

I'd be tempted to also try jQuery as it seems to be the hands-down favourite around here.

Answer 14

And another vote for jQuery. Pretty lean for a powerful library and has a nice set of user-contributed plugins that provide most usual widgets or functionalities you'd want. There's also jQuery UI for building interfaces.

Just a note: script.aculo.us is not a standalone framework, but an extension of prototype. I've almost always seen them used together, never just prototype. Most notably script.aculo.us provides a set of simple effects (hide, show, resize, change styles,etc) for animating your pages.

Answer 15

jQuery is great for all your JavaScript needs and combined with the UI can really save you hours, days and perhaps weeks of time. But one I thing I don't like about jQuery is that there is no simple class creation interface like Prototype and Mootools provide.

John Resig has argued in the past that jQuery is a "different way" of doing things to the whole class based approach, but sometimes, even with jQuery, you can have hundreds of lines of reusable JavaScript code that needs to be made into a class.

I solve this problem by throwing in Dean Edwards' Base code to my jquery.js file and this works well for me. FYI, this is the same code that Prototype and Mootools base their "simple" class creation interface on.

Answer 16

We started with prototype but lately because of it's richer plugin environment, jquery is the pick.

Answer 17

Let's throw in a vote for The Dojo Toolkit. Link goes to their book where they compare themselves to the other major JS toolkits. Worth a read even if you don't choose Dojo.

Answer 18

I have used Prototype quite a lot, but now i'm using YUI. YUI is more verbose and has some great components/widgets and is a all around web frontend library

Answer 19

That depends on what you are trying to achieve. I've had good results with jQuery, but it's best to evaluate your tools based on your current needs.

Answer 20

jQuery is very powerful, has a great documentation, is easy to learn and use, and has many very useful plugins. It also has some UI components (tabs, sortable tables, accordions, etc).

Plus it's free to use in a commercial product, which ExtJS isn't.

Answer 21

This is a duplicate with http://stackoverflow.com/questions/913/what-javascript-library-would-you-choose-for-a-new-project-and-why

That question has some great in depth responses.

Answer 22

jQuery is great because it's lightweight, powerful, and has a vibrant community around it. There are heaps of plug-ins for it (including mine) and very active mailing lists and forums.

Answer 23

jQuery and Mootools. I just love the plugin API of jQuery and the ease of use. With Mootools, the name. it's cute