With the increased demand of "WEB 2.0" features such as drag 'n drop, AJAX, and client-side processing, the need for a robust javascript library in uPortal 3 becomes more and more obvious. These pages are dedicated to discussion around the many available javascript libraries*. I will focus mainly on the 6 with the most hype currently: Prototype, Dojo, Mochikit, Yahoo! UI, Google, and JQuery. Feel free to add any others which might be worth considering. For a good article reviewing some of these libraries, visit sitepoint.com.
| Prototype |
Dojo |
Mochikit |
Yahoo! |
Google |
JQuery | |
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| Simple AJAX |  |
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| Drag n Drop |
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| Basic Visual Effects |
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| Advanced Visual FX |
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| Java integration | |
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| Event handling |
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| Back button support with Ajax |
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| Developer tools | |
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| Rated Features (0-4 stars) | ||||||
| Minimal Learning Curve |  |
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| Ease of use (API) |
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| Widget Collection (useful or not) | |
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| Documentation | |
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| Developer Community | |
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| Refined UI effect examples |
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| Filesize Range (KB) | 46-137 | 18-276 | 5-113 | 2-300 | |
10-44 |
| Licensing |
MIT |
AFL / BSD |
MIT/AFL |
BSD |
Apache ** |
MIT |
| Demos | http://script.aculo.us | http://www.dojotoolkit.org/ | http://www.mochikit.com/demos.html | http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/ | GWT | http://www.jquery.com/demos |
| More Info | Prototype JS Library | Dojo JS Toolkit | Mochikit JS Toolkit | Yahoo UI Library | Google Web Toolkit | JQuery JS Library |
Other JS libraries not evaluated here:
- Zimbra Ajax TK (Kabuki)
- DWR
* I will assume that the terms library, toolkit, and framework are inter-changeable. This may merit its own discussion page, just not here.
** Google offers its Java libraries under Apache license, but its Java to Javascript converter is proprietary.
