Finding the right JavaScript framework
To get this blog on the right track let's start off by talking about briefly JavaScript frameworks. Back in 2006 I was completely obsessed with MooTools. I'd stomp around telling all my fellow web designers and developer about how "It's the best JavaScript framework out there! It can do anything you want and the animation capabilities are so smooth. You're a fool for not using it!" Truth is, at the time, I didn't really know about jQuery and its simplistic approach. What would be 5 lines of code in MooTools was suddenly a single line using jQuery. Now my argument didn't seem so strong — if it even was in the first place. I have since swore jQuery as the best JavaScript framework (for now).
While jQuery has taken a lot of busy work out of making beautiful dynamic websites, I can't help but think that there has to be a better solution. Maybe jQuery is too easy and thus we end up writing sloppy scripts. One of the biggest things that has bugged me about jQuery is that there is no animation interruption handling when using effects like slideToggle or fadeIn. It can start this animation queue if used on something like a hover that can behave horribly. They do have a solution if you use their animation method. But that feels like a hack. I noticed that the people I look up to are all using Prototype and sometimes combining that with Script.aculo.us. While I haven't really messed around with this combo, you can see it's beauty on sites like Apple and in all of 37signals' apps.
With big names like that and a slew of other companies using it as their framework of choice for their web applications it makes me wonder if it's worth taking the time to learn and adopt. It would mean going back to writing numerous lines of code. But maybe that's worth it if the outcome is cleaner, smoother, and always behaves the way it was intended to.
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