So here is a quick summary of what I found out in my lengthy research: It went down to 5 candidates, JSF, GWT, RIFE, Tapestry & Grails. I had a couple of must-have criteria: - A web designer has to be able to read/write the app via DreamWeaver or other non-programmer tool - UI has to be built in a definition language, not a programming language, i.e. no parent.addXXX(child) - Easy to use, and integrates with the current web projects in use.
Basically, there are three categories: - JSP-like (JSF, Wicket, Tapestry) - Rails-like (RIFE, Grails) - GWT-like (GWT) Tapestry is overall simpler to use than both JSF and Wicket, while having the same feature set. Also, Tapestry doesn't have the duplication of effort problem that Wicket has. (between Java and templates) Tapestry's files are readable/writable by DreamWeaver and keep their 'form' in it the best. Rails-like frameworks fail the designer test, since most pages are auto-generated. Also, they are incompatible with current way of doing things in the web world, and absolutely unapproachable by web designers GWT was a nightmare to set up and integrate, but once that was done (3 grueling days), it was easy to use and add components. The designer integration is spotty, but doable (via UiBinder) and there is GUI builder tool support. Overall winner - Tapestry Close runner-up - GWT I decided to use both, since they can be meshed together quite easily. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
