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I am planning to create a mobile or rather a tablet version of my existing web app. The devices supported would be iPad, Xoom (android).

I am not sure which JS library to use jQuery Mobile Vs Sencha Touch

My page would contain srandard componenrs like carousel, tab bars, etc

How should I decide which library to go for ? As of now, I am comfortable with jQuery syntax..so that is inclining me to think towards jQuery mobile. But guess that would be a wrong way to shortlist the JS library..

Please provide as much suggestions as you can.

copenndthagen
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  • Why not do a bit of research and see which has the features you need and the current support for the devices you're targeting? I'm pretty sure both would be well documented on their official websites. – Marko Jun 19 '11 at 07:40
  • Thx..well it is not going to be just about features..like the tablet/mobile OS is constantly evolving..So i have to be sure whichever library i go for, my app would not break in future OS releases.. – copenndthagen Jun 19 '11 at 07:48

2 Answers2

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Sencha Touch is the most obvious option here, jQuery Mobile is still no where near the quality of the Sencha Touch library.. although jQuery mobile degrades a lot more gracefully on non iOS and Android devices.

Seeing as you are aiming to support only Android and iOS then this shouldn't be a problem (Sencha Touch also supports BlackBerry OS 6 on the Torch 9800 handset too).

I found the responsiveness of jQuery Mobile to be supbar, and there are still a lot of rendering issues and kinks they need to iron out. I wouldn't expect a stable release until early 2012 at best.

You will find Sencha Touch to provide a more "native app" experience too, with a lot of great learning resources that you won't find for jQuery Mobile yet.

One final note, Sencha Touch supports a more MVC style application design (should you choose to go that way with your app), whereas jQuery mobile will simply be a load of markup and a load of jQuery script converting your HTML elements into touch friendly interface components.

TL;DR - Sencha Touch is the more complete package providing you want to put in the time.

JamesHalsall
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  • Thx a lot..the Sencha touch demos i have seen are mostly very basic..My question is if I want to create a full fledged web app with java/jsp, how easily will it integrate..Even though i understand it is only UI layer, but still at times there is always an overlap..So can Sencha touch still be used. – copenndthagen Jun 19 '11 at 12:02
  • Ofc this is possible, 95% of your jsp code would be used for ajax requests, so sending a response in JSON format for Sencha Touch to read is all that it needs, you could use virtually any server-side stack with Sencha Touch – JamesHalsall Jun 19 '11 at 12:46
  • Oh ok..cool..can i get source code/example where JSP/JSON AJAX response is used with Sencha Touch..thx.. – copenndthagen Jun 19 '11 at 16:39
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The jQuery Mobile library is still in Alpha development.

I was at a conference in May, and the jQuery Touch developers were among the presenters. They even said that it was still in heavy development and probably not ready for prime-time use yet.

Scott
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