JSF or MVC with Servlets/JSPs or other frontend frameworks?

Question

I'm working on development of a social web application using Java. I need to develop the frontend/GUI of my application for web browsers.

I'm wondering what is the better strategy to do frontend development, whether using frameworks like JSF 2.0 & like OR simply following MVC approach with servlets and JSPs ?

As I have heard JSF really makes the development simpler but also the learning curve is not too low, so is it worth learning JSF or I should prefer to directly proceed with servlets/JSPs ?

I'm new to web applications development using Java & I've almost completed writing the business logic for the application.

Please justify your answer on the basis of following parameters:

1. Performance & costs
2. Ease of Development & Time (considering the learning time as well)
3. Future Maintenance of code
4. Any other parameters you consider important

Update (07-09-2012):

I finally went with JSF-2.0 & have no regrets till date. Learning curve is not steep. It's easier & development is fast with component libraries like Primefaces. There are some costs as to state saving but those things can be handled intelligently. Community is big & things are well documented now. Hopefully, in near future Stateless JSF is also coming which will boost JSF with extra high performance.

Answer 1

For a hobby webapp, homebrewing some MVC framework is not bad. It's a nice learning exercise tour. However, it will bite you on the long term, for sure if you publish on the web and it becomes popular. Most of existing MVC frameworks are very well thought out. Most of the unforeseen caveats are taken into account. The sole framework API is well maintained and documented by a third party.

Also, whenever your webapp becomes popular and you need more developers to work on it to fulfill the enduser requirements/wishes, it's easier to find someone who's already familiar with an existing framework. With a homebrewed and possibly buggy MVC framework, you'll likely find less developers who are eager enough to dive into another learning curve before taking over the maintenance which they'll probably never reapply on their future jobs/projects.

This does not specifically apply on JSF, but on every other existing and popular MVC framework as well, such as Spring MVC. As to JSF in general, well, I've written a lot about it before here. Here are some good starting points to read the one and other about it:

• JSF versus plain HTML/CSS/JS
• JSF adoption and popularity
• What are the disadvantages of JSF 2.0?

Answer 2

For modern web apps like yours, and if your responsibility is the UI, you really don't want any "abstraction layer" stand between you and your html/css/javascript. Don't use any "component" framework.

I have heard JSF really makes the development simpler

Did you hear that from real webapp developers who actually used JSF in real products? Or just JSF committee patting their own backs? Or some old timers' wishful thinking that they don't need to learn the darn javascript?

If you choose JSF, please report your experience back to us after you shoot yourself out of frustration.

Answer 3

It's better use some MVC framework.

You can use either component based framework:

• JSF = mostly standard, but its hard to learn and a lot of people don't like it
• Tapestry = quite big and probably good framework
• Wicket, GWT - smaller component based frameworks, handy, powerful, smart, but I haven't used them yet

Or you can use request oriented framework.

• Spring MVC, Struts 2 = They are very similar. Spring MVC have probably better documentation
• Struts - I do NOT recommend this, when you can use Struts 2, or Spring MVC - you can trust me in this point

Each framework have its pro-and-con it depend on situation and your knowledge. I cannot give you single-valued answer.

Answer 4

You might want to consider Tapestry 5 if you're exploring options. We've been happily using it for many years on a large project in the social media space. It's an easy to use MVC framework that's component based. We're able to develop rapidly with it, especially now that we've built up a lot of our building blocks.

Learning time is probably on par with ramping up on any new framework. I'd perhaps say it's less than JSF and more than Spring MVC, though it really depends on what you're already familiar with and how deeply you use things. I put together a very small project on github a while back to get started with Tapestry 5 quickly, if you're interested it's tapstack.

As for long term use of a Tapestry based application, it has served us well. Maintenance of the code has been much better than when were using JSP. It's very stable as well. We've served billions of page views through Tapestry without any major problems.

On the downside it is less common than some other web frameworks. It is definitely a little different too. We feel it's worth it though, and refreshing to work with. Ultimately it's going to depend on what you need and what you feel works best for you. Best of luck with your decision.

Answer 5

Spring MVC is very easy to learn and if you have a simple web app and you want to save your time, its better than JSF.

However if your web app is not so simple, JSF beats Spring MVC by far. Its model is more complicated, but it is much better structured and it is widely supported, so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel again in most of the cases. Complex gui can done with JSF with less effort.