Telerik UI controls vs client-side UI with jQuery

I've used Telerik and JQuery for years. "Full featured" generally equates to tons of bloat, features you don't need and a final page that is hard (or impossible) to optimize. Drop Telerik and use a bare metal framework like JQuery. You'll find that it will allow you to build the specific functionality you need and you'll never go back. Many of the full featured UI suites like (like Telerik or ComponentArt) are very seductive but I think they encourage a lot of bad programming.

For instance.... Do you really need to have drag-and-drop-able columns on your grid? Probably not. It's probably better to have a design area where your users can layout their column preferences and then the main view where the grid is snappy and lightweight. Don't render down megabytes of added features that your users will never (or rarely) use with every page view.

Good discussion here. Some clarifications:

• Telerik does use jQuery internally (and will be increasingly now that MS supports it) to enhance the client-side features (and reduce client-side code) for many controls
• jQuery is a client-side library that is great for JavaScript development. If you need to address accessibility, though, you are up a creek with jQuery UI implementations because they depend on JavaScript for all functionality. Telerik's unique advantage is that you can render both client-side and server-side, meaning you can support clients that do not have JavaScript enabled.
• For many Telerik controls, you can either A) eliminate extra code on the page by disabling features (due to internal load-as-needed script logic), or B) significantly reduce the impact of client-side code by using provide script combiners and compressors.

Being a long time web developer, though, I always encourage people to use the right tool for the job. If you don't need the powerful capabilities of the RadControls, or the accesiblitity support, or the extensive documentation (to help the guy that will inherit your app), don't use them for your site. If all you need is basic UI, jQuery may be just fine. What I tend to find, though, is that when a developer can offer advanced features to users (what we sometimes think of as "bloat") for doing no extra work, users are much more impressed with the end product and find it much easier to use.

And above all, remember in most cases you generate value for your company/customers by building applications- not UI components. So unless there is good reason to re-invent the wheel, you're usually best served by using something that's already been built and tested to solve the problem you're facing.

Hope that helps.-Todd

Regarding the "bugginess" and other challenges faced by Brian C (et al), I think some additional clarification is deserved here. As a developer advocate, I won't make any pretense that the Telerik controls are perfect- no software written by mere mortals ever is. What's important then is how those bugs are addressed.

All too often, people overlook how a company (or open source project) addresses bugs until it's too late. No matter what tools you use- jQuery, Telerik, or even Microsoft- you're going to eventually hit bugs. Where Telerik tends to excel is providing rapid fixes for those problems and very thorough support to help you be as productive as possible. If you have a problem, Telerik -will- help you solve it. With other companies, and especially with Open Source, that is not always the guarantee.

So just remember: no matter what tools you use, you're going to face bugs. Make sure you pick tools with support that can respond to your problems and fix them very quickly. And since I know my perspective is unavoidably biased, I'll let others on StackOverflow confirm or deny Telerik's support quality.