JavaScript frameworks and CSS frameworks: JQuery, YUI, neither, or something else? [closed]

Question

I haven't done web development for about 6 years. I'm trying to get back into it and there is a lot of new stuff out there. I've chosen to write my next project with Perl and Catalyst.

I keep hearing about various JavaScript and CSS frameworks. I know very little about these frameworks so maybe this question is overly broad and open ended.

What are the strengths, weaknesses, and popularity of the various frameworks? Should I be using YUI, JQuery, neither, or something else?

Answer 1

Firstly, it's probably worth perusing Which Javascript framework (jQuery vs Dojo vs … )?.

Secondly, there are two broad categories of Javascript framework:

1. Rich: made for creating so-called Rich Intenet Applications, they are typically aimed at creating experiences much like a desktop applications with sophisticated windowing GUIs. This includes, but aren't limited to, YUI, Dojo, ExtJS and SmartClient;

2. Complementary: these are more focused on improving a traditional Website experience rather than replacing it altogether. These include jQuery, Prototype and others. Some might point out that jQuery has jQuery UI but this is a barebones widget library at best and completely incomparable to, say, YUI in terms of out-of-the-box user interface capabilities.

So the first thing you should ask yourself is: what kind of application are you creating?

Personally I think you can't go wrong with YUI or jQuery, depending on your answer.