Hi, welcome to qooxdoo. ;-)
> We are currently trying to decide between ExtJS and QooxDoo. I know this > topic has come up before, but I was hoping it would be okay to ask a couple > of general questions about a few items that are important to us. Sure, fair enough to ask. As the project lead I may be a bit biased, nevertheless my comments may help with your decision. I'd like to emphasize that I appreciate ExtJS as a fellow Ajax framework, and know many people that prefer one over the other based on their individual requirements or just personal taste. YMMV. > 1. I assume one can use Qooxdoo as a standalone JavaScript library in the > same way that you can with ExtJS? Yes. I guess you implicitly mean for creating medium to large-scale rich internet applications (RIAs). IMHO qooxdoo is more powerful in this regard, as it comes with an integrated tool chain that helps in developing and deploying such an app. http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8#tooling > 2. How do the two compare performance wise in the above context? Hard to compare quantitatively. I'd say that for similar complex look & feel qooxdoo shouldn't be any slower. At least that is what some benchmarks of the low-level layer suggest (unfortunately ExtJS didn't provide tests, yet), see http://ajaxian.com/archives/qooxdoo-jumps-into-taskspeed-ftw-on-ie8 Performance of large-scale web apps is also related to scalability. For partitioning such an app and loading distinct, optimized parts on-demand (e.g. for faster startup times), qooxdoo has comprehensive built-in support. > 3. I think we would all agree that ExtJS has a very appealing default theme. > If possible. how difficult would it be to create a similar type of theme > with QooxDoo? Easy. Custom themes can be created without touching any HTML or CSS. Many users have created their own themes, for older qooxdoo versions http://qooxdoo.org/community/real_life_examples#appearance_is_everything as well as newer ones, http://qooxdoo.org/community/real_life_examples#snoovel_tourdirectorweb_3.d Unfortunately, AFAIK the licensing of ExtJS does not allow to copy their theme/resources (maybe after the last licensing changes in an GPL version?). > 4. We prefer the QooxDoo api, because we believe the code is more > readable/maintainable. This is especially true for those who are not > JavaScript experts. After looking at the QooxDoo api a bit, it would appear > that QooxDoo provides the same type of function with regard to JSON etc. How > do the two libs compare when it comes to AJAX style communication? qooxdoo at least does provide an entire "stack" of communication: low-level AJAX calls in the regular event-based programming style http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/remote_io remote procedure calls (RPC) including optional RPC servers http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/rpc and model-centric solutions (via stores) in the new data binding layer http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/data_binding The larger and complex an app, the more likely you'd be building around more advanced design patterns (e.g. MVC), backed by data binding. Many low-level aspects of AJAX may diminish. > 5. We are still looking at both libs, so it would be help to get some > opinions on the various strengths of each library as it applies to the most > current version of QooxDoo. I'd say both frameworks have their strong points, ExtJS surely is visually more appealing and in general does better marketing. When it comes down to features and application development/deployment, I don't really know of many distinct features that I'd say, wow, that doesn't exist or can't be done in qooxdoo. Of course, your individual requirements and time constraints may determine what solution works best for you (now). > 6. Our backend is written in C++. Are there any particular issues that we > should be aware of while making use of QooxDoo in this way? No. It's all about HTTP(S), so you can go for any thin-server architecture of your liking. In case you like to implement a C++ RPC server, consult the writer guide http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/rpc_server_writer_guide > Any and all comment will be much appreciated. If you've got any questions or suggestions regarding the project, feel free to get in touch with me, Andreas -- Andreas Ecker Project Lead http://qooxdoo.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ qooxdoo-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qooxdoo-devel
