Packaging JavaScript & CSS

Question

I was tasked with figuring out how to package JavaScript and CSS into one file per each. We have a java servlet application and we use JQuery if that makes any difference. We use ant to script our builds, so easy integration with Ant would be nice. We want to do this to reduce caching issues and to reduce number of requests to the servlet.

I found few tools out there, but not sure what are pros/cons of each. Here is the list so far:

JAWR (http://jawr.java.net/)
Juicer (http://cjohansen.no/en/ruby/juicer_a_css_and_javascript_packaging_tool)
JSBuilder2 (http://www.sencha.com/products/jsbuilder/)
JSLint (http://code.google.com/p/jslint4java/) (JavaScript only)
Quilt (https://github.com/kitgoncharov/quilt) (JavaScript only)

Do you guys have any recommendations, warnings, advices? Or maybe a better tool/framework?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry all for not voting any answer up, i've been pulled into another project, so I haven't had a chance to actually check any of these solutions out :( Thank you for responses though, much appreciated! — SpaceBear
– SpaceBear, Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 16:14

Annie · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08 19:32:39Z

4

For JavaScript, the closure compiler integrates with Ant. It can concatenate and minify your JS. You can also use YUI compressor. Here's an example of using YUI compressor with Ant for JS and CSS.

answered Jun 8, 2011 at 19:32

Annie

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Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08 18:19:32Z

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By far my favorite template is HTML5 Biolerplate The build script there is pretty good as a template.

Also, versioned files with long cache times will greatly improve load times.

edited Jun 8, 2011 at 18:19

answered Jun 8, 2011 at 18:09

Andrew

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cweiske · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-08 09:38:59Z

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Replace "being nice" with "a must". You absolutely want something that integrates with your build tool since you do not want to minimize your files manually again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

edited Nov 8, 2011 at 9:38

answered Jun 8, 2011 at 22:00

cweiske

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icvg · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-01 08:43:01Z

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Jawr - very nice library, makes everything for you, simple to integrate (at least with its Grails PLugin). The small problem, I havn't found a way (may be it exists) to integrate ALL bundle's dependencies in a single file. (if you don't have dependencies between bundles (modules), you won't regret this decision).

answered Jul 1, 2011 at 8:43

icvg

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1 Comment

icvg Over a year ago

I have found, you can do also the one file per bundle, no matter its dependencies. Just see how you integrate with it. Last comments: very flexible

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