JBoss RichFaces vs IceFaces vs Apache Trinidad - JSF component libraries comparison

Question

What do you think/use for interface layer? The "backing" layer will be Spring 3. The criteria are :

• Your private opinion
• Components
• Documentation
• AJAX Integration
• Browser support
• Community
• Tool support (Eclipse, NetBeans)

I found some comparison topics but it was about 2007 and old versions.

Kleiman

Answer 1

I'd prefer RichFaces. But have in mind that you can use all of them at once, if you need a certain component.

I haven't used the other two, but I have looked into them in details in order to choose.

• components - richfaces has just more components than others. And in my non-designer opinion, trinidad components are a bit ugly :)
• documentation - all good
• ajax integration - richfaces has pretty powerful ajax capabilities which were at the core of the ones introduced in JSF 2.0
• browser compatibility - all have minor problems, no way to avoid that.
• community - you'll find suitable answers for most of your questions on their forums, or here
• tools - you don't need those, but a generic JSF tool suits them all

That said, you can also take a look at Primefaces - it has really good components as well. And to emphasize this - all component libraries can be used together.

Pretended

Yup, RichFaces is good. Browser compatibility is more a matter of CSS. The default skins are good, but if you'd like to customize them or provide a custom template, you'll really need to take browser compatbility into account. – Gabrielgabriela

Answer 2

I have worked only with Trinidad and Richfaces. I like both but I would give the edge to Trinidad. It may be because I have worked with it more and I feel more comfortable with it. Trinidad online documentation is also good enough.

Both Trinidad and RF have a lenghty component library. You can check those links to see what components you will find useful to your application. I have used Trinidad tree in one recent application I developed and it was easy to use and fill: Trinidad components - RichFaces components (login required)

Regarding skinning I feel Trinidad default skinning to be more basic than RichFaces one but I think both have ways to make them as beautiful as your CSS skills allow you.

I think RichFaces has a more mature AJAX integration and their AJAX components and events are more easy to use for me than Trinidad ones.

Fattal

You don't need to log in for RF demo, just click here: livedemo.exadel.com/richfaces-demo/index.jsp – Amphibology

Answer 3

I would prefer Rich Faces. I use Ice Faces in my current project, but it is difficulat to get the community support because of the small community. In that case rich faces is good.

Eimile

Answer 4

I have used richfaces in one of my project and in the current project I am using icefaces. I feel RichFaces would be the better option because of the following reasons:

• It is matured framework compare to the Icefaces. Icefaces has lot of bugs.
• Richfaces has the strong community than Icefaces

Eimile