When it comes to developing rich web-based websites, there is always the decision of which JavaScript framework to use. The tools, performance, and ease-of-use are critical to the success of the project, making the choice of a framework paramount to the planning process.
There are many choices available, including jQuery, Angular, React, and Dojo, all of which offer different approaches to creating the website. While in some cases a specific library may be more beneficial than another, an invaluable asset of a framework is that it will work for any site, regardless of its specific requirements. That is where the JavaScript framework Dojo shines – the tools provided within the Dojo JavaScript Toolkit are robust and expansive enough to take on any task, and that is why we choose to use it for our websites.
What is Dojo?
Dojo is an open-source JavaScript-based toolkit used for creating websites quickly and effectively. Supported and contributed to by tech-juggernauts IBM, Sun Microsystems, and SitePen–Dojo is one of the premier frameworks available to developers looking to create full-featured and robust web applications and websites. As with many other frameworks, Dojo exists so that we aren’t required to “reinvent the wheel” for our sites. Instead, it offers a plethora of tools and libraries to accomplish or contribute to any required features.
One of the primary reasons we believe so strongly in Dojo is because it follows excellent practice in programming architecture and code quality from its source code. The source code acts as the foundation for any framework and subsequent site, so rock-solid source code is a sign that Dojo is an effective framework to build on. It also aligns well with object-oriented principles (even though JavaScript isn’t object-oriented), making it easy to understand and implement.
Dojo Is: Efficient
A benefit of the JavaScript framework Dojo is its efficacy in creating rich-featured websites that meet both the functional requirements as well as performance requirements. Dojo is a great option because it includes many of the tools and features contained in other libraries, with the added benefit that they are included within the toolkit and optimized for compatibility with other components in Dojo-supported libraries. This saves you the headache of having to use multiple frameworks together in a single project, which can cause multiple problems.
When using multiple libraries like jQuery, Angular, and Backbone together, you need to integrate them to make them work because they are not inherently designed to work together. This requires building your own integrations and “patches” which can lead to bloating due to the additional code required. You are also likely to run into compatibility issues which can lead to unexpected results and errors. Because performance is so important when it comes to websites, using the Dojo JavaScript toolkit where different components are built to be used together can save time, effort, and improve performance.
With frameworks like jQuery, you are receiving a framework with an entire collection of features bundled up in a single package. From this collection of components, you are required to decompose and strip out the features you don’t need to decrease bloat. Otherwise, those unused features can degrade the performance of the website. With jQuery, you are essentially working backward, or top-down as opposed to bottom-up. For example, using jQuery is like buying a home that is already built with features you don’t need, making it more expensive (or bloated) than what you’re looking for. Alternatively, Dojo allows you to start from the foundation and build the home to your specifications, only paying for what you need and using the specific components you will use.
Dojo Is: A Comprehensive Package Built for Enterprise
Dojo understands that when building enterprise websites, it Is vital that the comprehensive needs of the website are met, and it functions reliably. That is why the Dojo toolkit offers a ton of features, components, and building blocks that allow you to create these sites and meet their performance and functionality requirements.
The Dojo JavaScript toolkit saves us the time of having to create our own tools and components. Dojo contains many of the tools the other frameworks offer, but they are all contained in a comprehensive package as opposed to multiple libraries. These components may function similarly, however they are created to be able to integrate with each other efficiently so that there are no performance issues that occur.
Dojo's components work so well together because they are compartmentalized, acting as additions to the foundation of the project that Dojo provides. The Dojo JavaScript toolkit provides you with the columns and building materials to build your own creation from scratch. This allows you to create sites that are customized to your requirements without any additional bloat or concerns about integration. You also have control over each aspect of the project and can estimate the results of using different components together because they are built with integration in mind.
Dojo also contains tools that expand the functionality of the framework for websites. Dojo contains tools for dependency management, event handling, and class declarations which make it capable of much more than other frameworks. There are also two packages included in the Dojo JavaScript toolkit, “dstore” and “dgrid”, which greatly improve the functionality of the website.
- “dstore” is Dojo’s data layer that provides tools for handling and interacting with data collections and objects. It allows you to store, retrieve, filter, sort, and track changes in data or objects. We find it to be much more robust than Backbone’s framework and able to unify everything easily.
- “dgrid” interacts with “dstore” in order to display or present the stored data collections and objects. This is how we display options in dropdowns, administrative grids, and more on the website. In combination with “dstore”, “dgrid” makes the user interface much better than other frameworks and plays a big role in our decision to use Dojo for our websites.
These packages, in combination with all the other features and components that are packaged in the toolkit allow for expansive and full-featured websites that are more efficient than sites created with multiple lesser frameworks. They also offer greater control over the function and results of the websites because there are no unexpected conflicts that occur from incompatibility.
Dojo is: Exactly What We Need
Overall, we find the JavaScript framework Dojo to be the most robust and comprehensive framework available for developing websites. Its expansive collection of tools and components allows us to easily build websites that are efficient and customized to meet all functionality and performance requirements. By integrating the various components contained in the Dojo toolkit as opposed to using the lesser frameworks patched together, we can minimize inefficiencies in the code and attain predictable results that lead to better websites that are well suited for enterprises. If you’re looking for an all-in-one framework that is more than capable of meeting your specific requirements, look no further than the Dojo JavaScript toolkit.
Interested in learning more about Enterprise website development? Contact us today, and one of our expert staff will be happy to provide you with more information.