Among many javascript frameworks out there that speed up development of UI (user interface) and other aspects of a website, my two favorites are mootools and jQuery. Which is better? Hard to say – I like to experiment with both. The Sonika Studios Inc. website is built on the jQuery system, and this is actually my first major website that I’m building with jQuery.

A brief look at jQuery – it’s a javascript framework that allows you to quickly manipulate your document, while providing stylish animation effects without the need for flash. jQuery also has a daughter product called jQueryUI – a user-interface skin module that resides on top of jQuery. It also contains AJAX modules, nifty tab plugins, popup layer scripts, and more. jQuery, coupled with the jQueryUI platform, makes UI development and skinning quick and easy.

Now let’s look at Mootools – Mootools is more powerful in terms of string manipulation, array objects handling, and other deeper javascript applications. It’s AJAX functions support full XML, JSON, HTML, as well as regular text objects being returned, which makes it a more robust framework for programming upon. For more complicated and full-featured javascript applications, I would still stick with Mootools.

Which is better? I do not have an answer to that. Each framework has its own purpose, with different depths of application. When you want quick UI development with fast visual effects application, choose jQuery. If you need a more robust AJAX/JSON application, or a complicated Javascript application, go for Mootools for the heavier functions. I do find that Mootools is slightly more time consuming when it comes to visual effects applications.

Both javascript frameworks have plenty of 3rd party plugins developed (such as photo galleries and more!). Look up the plugins before you start developing, in order to choose the right framework from the beginning. Both frameworks are also compatible with all major browsers (IE6+, FF, Safari, and Opera).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Web Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.