Archived Content

The UP3 space contains documentation related to the next-generation portal exploration work that JA-SIG has now archived. Documentation related to uPortal, including active development for future releases, can be found in the uPortal space.
References to uPortal 3 in this space should be considered out of date. Active uPortal 3 documentation is available in the uPortal space.

Javascript Toolkit Comparison

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
Simple AJAX
Drag n Drop






Basic Visual Effects






Advanced Visual FX





Java integration        
 
Event handling






Back button support with Ajax
 
   
 
Developer tools        

           
Rated Features (0-4 stars)            
Minimal Learning Curve
Ease of use (API)
Widget Collection (useful or not)
Documentation
Developer Community
Refined UI effect examples
             
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.

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