Comparing YUI and Ext JS

javascript extjs yui javascript-framework
Spike Williams picture Spike Williams · Mar 16, 2010 · Viewed 7.7k times · Source

I've been using Ext JS as my rich-widget toolkit for a while, but I'm thinking of moving to YUI, partly because of the less restrictive license.

The component-oriented model used in YUI seems quite similar to the one that I've enjoyed so much in Ext JS, but I'm interested in how deep those similarities are. So I'm interested in feedback from people who've used both Ext JS and YUI. What is the same, and what is different? What do I lose by moving to YUI, and what do I gain?

Answer

Gareth Davis picture Gareth Davis · Mar 16, 2010

I think both libraries actually address different needs.

YUI is designed addresses the needs of Yahoo inc. It is very good at building public facing applications where things like graceful degradation, clean markup and accessibility is important.

ExtJS is a very good and well designed full RIA framework that is very firmly targeted at building line of business applications. Features such as a really powerful grid component, strong layout and good professional look and feel.

I've used both quite considerably, although only up to YUI 2.7.0 and have built several full RIA using the frameworks.

Moving an existing application from one to another would be quite differcult as although they share a common ancestor (ExtJS was once YUIext) the frameworks are quite different now.

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