~/Is jQuery UI Still Good for Web App Development

Jan 15, 2022


jQuery UI was once a popular toolkit for adding interactive UI elements to web apps. However, as of 2021, it is in maintenance mode. This means only critical fixes are made and no new features are planned.

Modern web development has shifted to using frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular, which offer more comprehensive solutions and are actively maintained.

Reasons you might not want to use jQuery UI:

  1. Lack of updates and new features.
  2. Poor support for modern web standards like ES6 modules.
  3. Large file size compared to alternatives.
  4. Many plugins and widgets are no longer necessary with native HTML and CSS.

If maintaining legacy code, jQuery UI can still be relevant, but for new projects consider alternatives.

Example using jQuery UI dialog:

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$( "#dialog" ).dialog();

Compare with React Material UI dialog:

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import Dialog from '@mui/material/Dialog';
<Dialog open={open}>Dialog content</Dialog>

Summary: jQuery UI works but is outdated for new builds. Use modern frameworks unless supporting old code. Read more in the official announcement and migration guide.

Tags: [jquery] [webdev]