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Add to SafariWhen comparing Vaadin vs Webix, the Slant community recommends Webix for most people. In the question“What are the best Javascript UI Widget Toolkits?” Webix is ranked 7th while Vaadin is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Webix is:
Webix is one of the most extensive UI component libraries, second only to Sencha ExtJS. Not only considering the number of widgets, but also the API methods for manipulating these widgets.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Compiles Java to JavaScript
Vaadin uses GWT to compile Java code into JavaScript. This means that developers using Vaadin can write both frontend and backend code in Java.
Pro Easy to use
Vaadin has a 'design mode' which allows developers to drag and drop components into a canvas and then provide the logic for every component. There are also a lot of third party tutorials and guides which help with the initial learning curve.
Pro Top notch documentation
The book of Vaadin is a must have for every developer that uses Vaadin to make web apps. It is an excellent reference manual and all around a great tool for every Vaadin related need. You can find and download the pdf online or get it for free in almost any Vaadin sponsored conference.
The online documentation is also very good. It has some tutorials and video guides.
There is also a vibrant community which sorround Vaadin, for any problem you may have there is a big chance that someone has already asked and answered that question on StackOverflow or in the Vaadin forums. If not, it will probably be answered quickly if you ask it.
Pro Modern, configurable theming
Vaadin comes with the Valo Theme, a Sass-based theme and engine that calculates styles based on configurable variables and making it easy to define a completely new theme with a few lines of SCSS.
Pro Easy to develop prototypes quickly
Vaadin has what is called the Vaadin Directory which is a repository of downloadable Vaadin components which can be easily used for development. To use something from the repository, you need to download the JAR file and add it to the project.
Pro A lot of widgets
Webix is one of the most extensive UI component libraries, second only to Sencha ExtJS. Not only considering the number of widgets, but also the API methods for manipulating these widgets.
Pro Views can be constructed using JavaScript without HTML
The most common way of working with webix is to create a JSON configuration of your view in JavaScript. When you use TypeScript, you get complete typechecking and intellisense in your IDE.
Pro Seems to be quite stable
Even the most complicated GUIs are bug-free most of the time.
Pro Webix Jet
The webix Jet library adds all the required features for SPA development (routing, template loading, ...)
Pro Extremely simple to implement.
To get started is extremely simple. It has a low learning curve.
Pro Mature project
Regular updates and releases.
Pro Great support from the webix team
The company behind webix is really quick in answering any questions you have on their forum or via email.
Pro Awesome responsive material skins
Great design and icons pack.
Cons
Con Weak scalability
Since Vaadin stores the UI state and logic in the server, this means that for every user interaction a request needs to be sent to the server and the client needs to wait so it can know how to react. This leads to higher traffic and load times.
Con Commercial license
It's not free for commercial applications.
Con Not very popular
Not really a reason to not recommend it. But it has still a small user base. It deserves a lot more attention.
Con Not modular
The library is not modular (except for some additional more complex widgets). If you only need a few widgets, you still need to include the entire library.
