JBoss RichFaces vs IceFaces vs Apache Trinidad - JSF component libraries comparison

Question

What do you think/use for interface layer? The "backing" layer will be Spring 3. The criteria are :

• Your private opinion
• Components
• Documentation
• AJAX Integration
• Browser support
• Community
• Tool support (Eclipse, NetBeans)

I found some comparison topics but it was about 2007 and old versions.

Answer 1

I'd prefer RichFaces. But have in mind that you can use all of them at once, if you need a certain component.

I haven't used the other two, but I have looked into them in details in order to choose.

• components - richfaces has just more components than others. And in my non-designer opinion, trinidad components are a bit ugly :)
• documentation - all good
• ajax integration - richfaces has pretty powerful ajax capabilities which were at the core of the ones introduced in JSF 2.0
• browser compatibility - all have minor problems, no way to avoid that.
• community - you'll find suitable answers for most of your questions on their forums, or here
• tools - you don't need those, but a generic JSF tool suits them all

That said, you can also take a look at Primefaces - it has really good components as well. And to emphasize this - all component libraries can be used together.

Answer 2

I have worked only with Trinidad and Richfaces. I like both but I would give the edge to Trinidad. It may be because I have worked with it more and I feel more comfortable with it. Trinidad online documentation is also good enough.

Both Trinidad and RF have a lenghty component library. You can check those links to see what components you will find useful to your application. I have used Trinidad tree in one recent application I developed and it was easy to use and fill: Trinidad components - RichFaces components (login required)

Regarding skinning I feel Trinidad default skinning to be more basic than RichFaces one but I think both have ways to make them as beautiful as your CSS skills allow you.

I think RichFaces has a more mature AJAX integration and their AJAX components and events are more easy to use for me than Trinidad ones.

Answer 3

I would prefer Rich Faces. I use Ice Faces in my current project, but it is difficulat to get the community support because of the small community. In that case rich faces is good.