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JavaScript Frameworks, Movement in the Industry

Date: January 20, 2010
Author: Charles G

Accordions and carousel menus, front-end validation, Ajax, mega-menus, animations and effects are a few of the invaluable features JavaScript enables on web sites. Unfortunately, not every browser implements JavaScript the same way, causing headaches for many developers testing their latest widget in multiple browsers. There is a solution to the dilemma: JavaScript frameworks.

JavaScript frameworks A JavaScript framework is a JavaScript library written on top of JavaScript, creating a higher level language, making it far easier to implement complicated UI components in a short period of time. Most JavaScript frameworks are created to correct flaws in browser compatibility along with enhancements such as elegant syntax and extendability. Many web sites are using this technology.

  Why?  Here's some of the key benefits of JavaScript frameworks:

  1. Writing low level JavaScript can be complex and time consuming , but JavaScript frameworks enable developers to focus on logic instead of different browser types or atypical quirks within one browser.
  2. JavaScript frameworks create the same behavior with less code, reducing time on maintenance and code creation.
  3. Javascript frameworks also help in separating behavior from the document structure. Many authors use the phrase: "Unobtrusive JavaScript", which if practiced makes your documents more readable and maintainable. The use of JavaScript frameworks encourages sound coding practices.

Proven in the wild, many sites adopted JavaScript frameworks in their production environments. Using TIME.com's list of top 50 websites of 2009 as a data source for popular web sites, it is possible to break down the use of the top three JavaScript frameworks (jQuery / Prototype / Yahoo). The table below lists the web sites for each of these three JavaScript frameworks.

Sites using
jQuery Library		 Sites using
Prototype Library		 Sites using
Yahoo Library
  1. Twitter
  1. Youtube
  1. Flickr
  1. Amazon
  1. Hulu
  1. Skype
  1. Aardvark
  1. Last.fm
  1. TripIt
  1. Mint
  1. Supercook
 
  1. Fonolo
  1. CouchSurfing
 
  1. NameVoyager
  1. drop.io
 
  1. Pandora
   
  1. Pollster
   
  1. ConsumerSearch
   
  1. Kiva
   
  1. PropertyShark
   
  1. Etsy
   
  1. NetFlix
   
  1. Kayak
   
  1. Criglook
   
  1. fora.tv
   
  1. Wolfram|Alpha
   

These web sites account for 26 of the 50 websites in TIMES's top 50 list. The remaining sites were flash-based; utilize other JavaScript frameworks; use in-house frameworks; or none at all. This data set is small, so as a balance a secondary source is referenced below.

Backend Battles Let’s explore the larger data set. Backend Battles provides a review of the JavaScript frameworks that developers are using for their web sites. Backend Battles utilizes the data pulled from Alexa Top 10'000 search results. While this site focuses on framework popularity, the data follows the same pattern from the sample evaluated from TIME.com’s top 50 list.

In light of both data sets, it is clear that JavaScript frameworks are running on some of the most successful web sites on the web. I think this is a trend unlikely to die out anytime soon.

Over course of the next few months we will publish some specific examples of how at KPI Consulting we use Javascript frameworks to make our clients' websites better. For now - visit the KPI Consulting homepage to see an example of some great jQuery widgets in action.

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