The Clear Experience Gap

• Not a computer know-it-all? You might have trouble trying to get used to the blunt, standardized codes of MooTools.Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Inexperienced users, and those who just are not code-friendly, will not enjoy the MooTools platform. MooTools was designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer, a much different vision from the one espoused by jQuery. The jQuery framework really changes the game of JavaScript development, simplifying much of the event handling and animating so as to create a non-code-like environment. The two frameworks do not hide the experience gap from their websites, openly admitting that their platforms are better suited for some individuals.
  
  

The Communities

• The jQuery Team has long been known as an aggressive advertiser, outselling MooTools in books, subscriptions and just about any retail product. When you couple that with an easy-to-learn interface, it's understandable why jQuery has a much larger support community. MooTools has much smaller forums, mailing lists and support teams. Of course, when you are an expert at JavaScript who just wants a much more stable version of the plain-old Java platform (e.g., MooTools), who needs support threads and "how-to" manuals?
  
  

JavaScript Intentions

• Complex JavaScript development, both on and off the Web, is the home field of MooTools.Thinkstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  What the user really wants out of JavaScript plays a huge role in deciding between these two outstanding frameworks. When we think of Java, we probably think of online games, tools and applications delivered through a Web interface. This setup, called the Document Object Model (or "DOM" for short), is what jQuery is best at. JQuery delivers amazing browser-based content, but completely ignores more complex, non-DOM uses for JavaScript. MooTools, on the other hand, is your basic JavaScript, albeit much more stable with object-oriented practicing and component combinations. Thus, the goal of MooTools is not to dumb down or change the way JavaScript is, but to clarify it and customize the experience. It can do much more than jQuery in terms of non-DOM development.
  
  

The Learning Curve

• As expected, jQuery is generally a much easier framework to learn. MooTools, while not extensively difficult to master, requires a significant amount of dedication. Due to its versatile nature, MooTools needs the user to learn quite a bit of the program's numerous functions in order to get going. In the end, however, the dedication to JavaScript pays off and the programmer learns to do what jQuery would have previously ignored.