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Javascript libraries have become fundamental to good web design, almost all ste nowadays have some element of javascript or Ajax present. It is probably the main element in developing the Web 2.0 movement.
There are many Frameworks, which do you prefer?

1. script.aculo.us (http://script.aculo.us/)

script.aculo.usURL: http://script.aculo.us/.
Blog: n/a.
Documentation: http://wiki.script.aculo.us/.
Note: script.aculo.us is not a Framework by its self but it is an addon for Prototype.

“script.aculo.us provides you with easy-to-use, cross-browser user interface JavaScript libraries to make your web sites and web applications fly.”

2. Prototype (http://www.prototypejs.org/)

PrototypeURL: http://www.prototypejs.org/.
Blog: http://www.prototypejs.org/blog.
Documentation: http://www.prototypejs.org/learn.

“Prototype is a JavaScript Framework that aims to ease development of dynamic web applications. Featuring a unique, easy-to-use toolkit for class-driven development and the nicest Ajax library around, Prototype is quickly becoming the codebase of choice for web application developers everywhere.”

3. Moo Tools (http://www.mootools.net/)

Moo ToolsURL: http://www.mootools.net/.
Blog: http://blog.mootools.net/.
Documentation: http://docs.mootools.net/.
Demos:http://demos.mootools.net/.

“MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer. It allows you to write powerful, flexible, and cross-browser code with its elegant, well documented, and coherent API.”

4. jQuery (http://jquery.com/)

 jQueryURL: http://jquery.com/.
Blog: http://jquery.com/blog/.
Documentation: http://docs.jquery.com/.

“jQuery is a fast, concise, JavaScript Library that simplifies how you traverse HTML documents, handle events, perform animations, and add Ajax interactions to your web pages. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript”.

5. MochiKit (http://www.mochikit.com/)

 MochiKitURL: http://www.mochikit.com/.
Blog: http://www.mochikit.com/blog.html.
Documentation: http://www.mochikit.com/doc/html/MochiKit/index.html.
Demos:http://www.mochikit.com/demos.html.

“MochiKit – makes JavaScript suck a bit less”.

6. Rialto (http://rialto.improve-technologies.com/wiki/)

URL: http://rialto.improve-technologies.com/wiki/.
Blog: n/a
Documentation: http://rialto.improve-technologies.com/js/doc/.
Demos:http://rialto.improve-technologies.com/rialto/.

“Rialto (Rich Internet Application Toolkit) is ajax-based cross browser javascript widgets library”.

7. Dojo Toolkit (http://dojotoolkit.org)

URL: http://dojotoolkit.org/about.
Blog: http://dojotoolkit.org/blog.
Documentation: http://dojotoolkit.org/docs.
Demos:http://dojotoolkit.org/demos.

“Dojo is an Open Source DHTML toolkit written in JavaScript. Dojo aims to solve some long-standing historical problems with DHTML which prevented mass adoption of dynamic web application development”.

8. Spry Framework (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/)

URL: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/.
Blog: n/a.
Documentation: http://www.adobe.com/go/labs_gnav_wiki.
Demos:http://www.adobe.com/go/labs_gnav_showcase.

“The Spry framework for Ajax is a JavaScript library that provides easy-to-use yet powerful Ajax functionality that allows designers to build pages that provide a richer experience for their users. It is designed to take the complexity out of Ajax and allow designers to easily create Web 2.0 pages”.

9. ASP.NET Ajax Framework (http://asp.net/ajax/)

URL: http://asp.net/ajax/.
Blog: n/a.
Documentation: http://asp.net/ajax/documentation/.
Demos:http://asp.net/ajax/showcase/.

“ASP.NET AJAX is a free framework for quickly creating efficient and interactive Web applications that work across all popular browsers”.

10. Cean Ajax Framework (http://sourceforge.net/projects/clean-ajax/)

URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/clean-ajax/.
Blog: n/a.
Documentation: http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=145307.

“Easy to use AJAX framework that provides message queue, XSLT, XPath, encryption (SHA1, MD5), web service access (SOAP, XMLRPC), JSON-RPC, cross browser AJAX, AJAX history and cache control”.


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There are 45 Comments › Leave your comment
  1. Jowra
    1 Apr, 2008

    MooTools.

    jQuery is great too, but I like the style and elegance of MooTools.

    Reply

  2. Chris
    1 Apr, 2008

    After much time spent on many of these I came away a jQuery convert.

    Reply

  3. Jim Knight
    1 Apr, 2008

    Jquery can’t be beat. Easy to use if you know CSS. Simple ajax. Chaining is great.

    Reply

  4. João Araújo
    1 Apr, 2008

    Have used Prototype but since I discovered Jquery I never looked back!

    Reply

  5. Brian Moschel
    1 Apr, 2008

    JavaScriptMVC is another to add to the list. It stresses best practices like file and code organization, compression, error notification, and testing.

    Reply

  6. milus
    1 Apr, 2008

    Definitely jQuery!

    Reply

  7. noth
    1 Apr, 2008

    jquery!!!

    Reply

  8. jeff haynie
    1 Apr, 2008

    You should also check out the Appcelerator RIA platform at http://www.appcelerator.org

    Reply

  9. michael
    1 Apr, 2008

    The last one Should be “clean ajax” and not “cean ajax”

    Reply

  10. Zac
    1 Apr, 2008

    Another for jquery!

    Reply

  11. flashpro
    1 Apr, 2008

    Why is Yahoo! YUI not in the list?

    Reply

  12. JamieO
    2 Apr, 2008

    I, like most on this list, think that jQuery is the sh*t. But regardless of your preference – before you start AJAX’ing this and animating that, you should detect if the visitor is one of those poor unfortunate souls who has turned javascript off, does not have it installed or using archaic technology.

    Reply

  13. mrrookie
    2 Apr, 2008

    I am pretty new to the whole javascript thing and after doing a bit of research, i started learning jquery and i feel very very comfortable with it.

    Reply

  14. Iain
    3 Apr, 2008

    I started out with prototype, but a colleague put me onto jQuery and I never looked back.

    Reply

  15. mel
    3 Apr, 2008

    I’m personally all over the place…

    scriptaculous and mootools are crazy easy to implement

    I’ve just started working with the Yahoo YUI stuff and it’s a little tricky to get going at first but I like the extensive library and examples so you aaren’t left searching newsgroups for more complicated code…

    Even though I haven’t used it yet, I’ve a TUN more published about JQuery in recent monhts so I think that will actually be my next choice :)

    Reply

  16. José Chafardet
    4 Apr, 2008

    jQuery all the way, i find mootools very good, and have used scriptaculous a bit, but since i discovered jQuery, i fell inlove with it.

    Reply

  17. I was using mootols, but i think jquery have bigger possibilities and community to support the applications

    Reply

  18. Philip Weaver
    17 Jun, 2008

    Echo3 now supports creating webapps in Javascript. It supports object literal notation, layouts with zero HTML, a component model, and is extensively stylable/customizable using component oriented stylesheets. It is very elegant, lean, and easy to use.
    http://echo.nextapp.com/site/echo3
    (Apologies if this is reposted – entered email was incorrectly.)

    Reply

  19. Asfahaan
    1 Jul, 2008

    Thanks! :)

    Reply

  20. dark_cybernetics
    5 Sep, 2008

    how about extJS.com ?

    Reply

  21. David Smith
    27 Sep, 2008

    You should check out the light weight JAK Framework. JAK is an Open Source Object Oriented Program built enterprises.

    Reply

  22. Steve
    2 Oct, 2008

    Most people know this already, but Scriptaculous requires Prototype; it is like Prototype’s GUI effects stuff. So is Rico, not listed here.
    But yeah, jQuery rocks the house!

    Reply

  23. Andi Gutmans
    21 Oct, 2008

    CodeIgniter rocks!

    Reply

  24. Mike V.
    10 Nov, 2008

    Excluding Ext JS from this list is pure incompetence. Five of the ten listed should not even be on the list. Do some research next time.

    Reply

  25. elchat
    26 Nov, 2008

    Hello i Prefer Prototype
    elchat

    Reply

  26. gregsometimes
    16 Dec, 2008

    jQuery only #4 on the list? Where is Prototype? EXT?

    What Is jQuery?

    Reply

  27. Martin
    26 Jan, 2009

    It’s difficult to compare and therefore rate these libraries/frameworks, because each delivers something different. Some focus on effects, others on controls, others emphasize DOM manipulation or AJAX etc. I guess it really depends on your need as to which you would rate the highest.

    Reply

  28. Vipul Limbachiya
    18 Feb, 2009

    Have worked with prototype, now working with jQuery. Between these 2 I feel jQuery is better. Support for jQuery is ossum!!

    Reply

  29. MaxiWheat
    18 Feb, 2009

    I began doing some AJAX using Prototype 3 or 4 years ago, and I think I begin to master it pretty well now. But after all my reading I begin to think to switch to jQuery, it is more actively maintained (Prorotype’s last major update is more than 1 year ago) and in every performance benchmark Prototype is almost always in last place, jQuery first or second. Plus jQuery have a better plugin/widget community.

    Reply

  30. Dean
    18 Feb, 2009

    My initial learning of Javascript was a painful experience. JQuery has eased the pain significantly. I can’t imagine scripting without it.

    I have heard that performance wise JQuery is one of the slower libraries. But I look forward to seeing how it improves with each new version.

    Reply

  31. jetm
    18 Feb, 2009

    jQuery and ExtJS

    Reply

  32. Jason Bartholme
    18 Feb, 2009

    Based on the fact that I have only used jQuery on my last five projects. I’m going to have to say it’s my favorite and I don’t think I will stray anytime soon. It a vast user base with tons of plugins.

    Reply

  33. Olivier Allouch
    19 Feb, 2009

    If you’re an ok developer, you should definitely go for mootools. The API looks like an API. And there’s not afraid of refactoring to keep it clean.

    Reply

  34. Gafitescu Daniel
    19 Feb, 2009

    1) Jquery
    2) Ext Js
    3) Prototype
    4) Mootools
    5) script.aculo.us

    Reply

  35. Aycan Gulez
    8 Mar, 2009

    If you are looking for a light-weight JavaScript framework that supports CSS selectors, I’d recommend midori: http://www.midorijs.com

    Reply

  36. JustMe
    12 Mar, 2009

    Please, put EXT JS on the list next time.

    Reply

  37. cancel bubble
    25 Mar, 2009

    I’ve used Prototype/Scriptaculous, YUI and jQuery (the latter being my favorite). They are ALL very cool, but personally I was drawn to jQuery.

    Was surprised to not see YUI on this list and even EXT.

    Reply

  38. Himanshu
    2 Apr, 2009

    Surprise YUI is not in a List?

    Reply

  39. DREW
    4 Jun, 2009

    jQuery is definitely my favorite for adding effects/checking/ajax to pages, and is extremely non-obtrusive. You can usually get away with using it without any conflicts with the JS you already have when refactoring a page/site.

    ExtJS is probably better for building highly-integrated front-ends. The core is set up for trees, grids, etc. The syntax is a bit more heavy than jQuery, but that’s the tradeoff. I think that a lot of people will find the virtues of ExtJS once they reach the limits of jQuery.

    Reply

  40. Kio-G
    19 Jun, 2009

    It’s all about the jQuery baby!

    Reply

  41. web developer
    19 Jul, 2009

    Is there a website that actually compares coding speed using these frameworks ?

    Reply

  42. Ron
    29 Jul, 2009

    Hello? YUI?

    http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/

    Reply

  43. Fredrik Wendt
    30 Jul, 2009

    I totally agree with Drew, and I too think that you’ve made this blog post incomplete by leaving out ExtJS and YUI.
    There’s no other framework that is as complete as ExtJS when it comes to building a full application. All the other frameworks are just HTML addons.

    Reply

  44. loic
    7 Aug, 2009

    Hello.
    here is a new nice list I have found by chance:
    http://www.jcargoo.org/2009/08/17-most-widely-used-javascript.html

    Reply

  45. Ben G
    20 Oct, 2009

    Ext JS.

    Reply