SharePoint – Silverlight JQuery comparison

 

Recently a colleague asked me whether I’d use Silverlight over Jquery or vice versa and why.

In response to his query I thought about it and then responded to him by stating that I recommend JQuery for the required task at hand. Which is the creation of a an active sitemap for his intranet site.

Depending on the required turnaround time and deployment time JQuery would be a winner in that regard. As the time taken to build and deploy components onto a page is minimal in comparison to the Silverlight develop build and deploy scenario. Which would take much longer.

JQuery is also a lot more dynamic allowing changes to configuration or code without having to go back to the IDE to work on components.

However from a ‘redeployability’ perspective, Silverlight would come out better as once the package is created, it would merely need to be dropped onto the page and would work (as long as all the parameters are in place, page location etc.)

It is also more of a solution package tool used to create interfaces, BI components and overall software solution packages as opposed to providing a single component which could be seen as a tool used to create more complex functions than a sitemap. (The right tool for the right job comes to mind here)

So in a nutshell here is what I would say are the comparable items:

 

 

Technology	Pro	Con
Development Time	JQuery	Silverlight
Deployment Time	JQuery	Silverlight
Code Agility (Ability to update code on the fly)	JQuery	Silverlight
Deployment Method	Silverlight / JQuery (Depending on the solution complexity)	JQuery
Access to Microsoft Reference Library	Silverlight	JQuery
Access to the JavaScript JQuery reference library	JQuery/Silverlight
Large Software Solution components	Silverlight	JQuery
SharePoint 2013 Phasing Out	JQuery (Not phasing out)	Silverlight (Might phase out)

 

 

Hope this is what you were looking for.

 

The below references confirmed my above statements:

Future of Silverlight – http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/do-sharepoint-silverlight-have-a-future-together-014103.php

Choose the correct API for the requirement – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj164060(v=office.15).aspx

JQuery – Silverlight – http://jakkaj.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/just-quickly-jquery-and-silverlight/

Can you compare JQuery and Silverlight – http://izlooite.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-jquery-vs-silverlight-comparison.html

http://www.codeplex.com/site/users/view/sympmarc