JSF - Component Libraries, migrate or not migrate?

Question

I am using an old component library called Woodstock. Whenever I try to change something I get stuck with not find finding adequate documents about this library. I am thinking about migrating to another library like ICE Faces or Prime Faces. But I suspect that migrating to another library will end up with the same result in 3-4 years, no documents, no support anymore. Should I use JSF standard library and not use component libraries anymore, or is there a library that lasts more than 3 years

Answer 1

Woodstock was rather unique. The Woodstock components generates generally JavaScript code instead of HTML code. That JavaScript code in turn generates the HTML DOM tree on page load. After all, especially since the release of Firefox 3 where all Woodstock based websites instantly broke, that generated JavaScript code was not standards compliant. This was a major mistake of the Woodstock inventors/developers. It was too late to fix it.

IceFaces, RichFaces, PrimeFaces, etc have all a robust component library which generate standards compliant HTML/JS code wherein the cross browser sensitive JS tasks are delegated to a 3rd party JS library such as jQuery. Currently those JSF component libraries are still actively maintained. I know that you can never predict this beforehand, but I wouldn't expect them to disappear in 5 years or something.