This page contains quotes from the Tapestry community, appearing on the Tapestry Developer mailing list and in online forums such as TheServerSide.com.

These entries have been editted for grammar and readability.

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”Tapestry met all of our requirements and helped us proceed onto a successful release.”

We used Tapestry to implement the monitoring and administration console for a wireless network management product. Initially, we implemented a demonstration using standard JSP but we realized that JSPs presented difficulties for implementation. Some of our requirements were a very aggressive development schedule, integration with EJB 2.0 beans, ability to write modular reusable components, very reliable, easy code maintenance, internationalization, and of course easier debugging than the generated JSP code. Tapestry met all of our requirements and helped us proceed onto a successful release.

After reading the tutorial and reviewing the examples, we started with writing simple components. We started with a StatusImage component. The GIF for the status image should be localized and selected based on standard network status states. Another example of a simple component was a validating IP address text field. The IP address field uses the Tapestry validation framework. After that, we moved onto more complex components like the StatusTable shown in the figure. This table has a varying number of rows depending on the configuration of the product using the Tapestry Foreach component (very cool). This StatusTable makes use of another essential Tapestry component, the Conditional. Looking at the Actions columns, the set of actions is conditional based on the row. All this logic happens in the Java class and is not embedded into our HTML making maintenance much easier.

”Tapestry's flexibility along with its clean object-oriented architecture made our web interface shine.”

Finally, we integrated servlets and JSPs into our Tapestry web application. We needed servlet integration for charting and JSPs for reporting. With all this flexibility, we could use each technology where they worked best. Overall, all of Tapestry's flexibility along with its clean object-oriented architecture made our web interface shine.

Dorothy Gantenbein
Profluent, Inc.

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”It's the most exciting model in Java web development I've seen in a long time.”

I've said it before and I'll say it again... You owe it to yourself to take a serious look at Tapestry. It's the most exciting model in Java web development I've seen in a long time. It really allows you to build applications--not web sites--that "execute on the web." Very cool stuff.

Chris Wilson

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”Tapestry is the best solution to the presentation tier ...”

Tapestry is the best solution to the presentation tier and it provides a clean separation of content and developer code. First, I extended it for WAP support, then I developed several WAP components and finally I developed a complete email application for WAP in record time.

David Solis

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”Tapestry is the best framework I have seen that offers this sort of separation.”

When using Struts or Velocity, in order to see what the finished page will look like, our graphic designers must assemble the application, deploy it ... they basically lose all the luxuries of WYSIWYG development ... I spent 30 minutes or so with one of our graphic designers here, and he was giddy at what I showed him as I redesigned one of our smaller apps using Tapestry.

Bottom line for us is this: We have graphic designers and we have developers, and I don't want them to necessarily have to know each others' job to get things done. Tapestry is the best framework I have seen that offers this sort of separation.

Jim Birchfield

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”We are able to publish any kind of our metadata-driven business objects with just a handful of generic, highly dynamic pages, using customizable components.”

As a 'lay developer' using Tapestry I can only recommend it. We have built a content management system based on Tapestry, plus multiple sites that are now powered by it. Thanks to its component architecture, we are able to publish any kind of our metadata-driven business objects with just a handful of generic, highly dynamic pages, using customizable components. All business logic is encapsulated in business objects and services, so there is not really much logic in the presentation layer besides the navigation parts.

The learning curve is not flat, but is really worth the effort. If you need to bring a dynamic web-app to the browser Tapestry offers many predefined and stable components to build on. We have gone with Tapestry and we will continue to use it in the next couple of projects needing a web-interface, too.

Jiri Lundak

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”The amount of code I am having to write is greatly reduced and I am achieving a much greater level of reuse.”

I just wanted to send you a quick note of appreciation for your Tapestry framework. It is a truly original and innovative approach.

While the learning curve is steep compared to thinner webapp frameworks, I have found it is well worth the effort. The amount of code I am having to write is greatly reduced and I am achieving a much greater level of reuse.

Malcolm Edgar

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”... one can build incredibly complex Web applications quickly and easily, and yet be assured that those applications are of a very high quality.”

I just want to second the positive comments about Tapestry. We have evaluated a lot of frameworks in the past couple of years, and in our opinion Tapestry is the only open source Java framework at the moment that provides everything necessary for Web-centric component oriented development.

The most important feature of Tapestry is indisputably the ability to package common Web functionality into components that can then be effortlessly reused again and again. Building a Tapestry application is pretty much like playing with Lego bricks -- all you have to do is just fit the different pieces together and not worry about how each brick would work internally or how the different pieces would interract with one another (an OO approach at its best). As a result, after gaining some experience and accumulating a set of components, one can build incredibly complex Web applications quickly and easily, and yet be assured that those applications are of a very high quality.

Tapestry has another major advantage as well -- it provides very clean separation between presentation and logic (cleaner than that of the most commonly used frameworks). The design of its templates is also very mindful of the actual web development process, accomodates very nicely the work of the web designers from the start, and allows them to play along even in later stages of the application development. This, again, is something rarely found in the other frameworks.

”We've got a significant increase in productivity, we've got increased quality, we've got happy web designers, and we've put an end to the repetitive operations -- it would be hard to think of a better scenario.”

I will mention just one more superb feature -- the Tapestry design and APIs provide a huge number of extension points that allow you to customize the behaviour of the framework almost to no end. In order to achieve a specific goal for one customer we twisted the behaviour of the system so much, that Howard would faint if he sees it. In any case, being able to easily modify and extend specific elements of the framework is a major advantage.

This may sound a bit like an advertisement, but it is not -- we are just very satisfied users. We've got a significant increase in productivity, we've got increased quality, we've got happy web designers, and we've put an end to the repetitive operations -- it would be hard to think of a better scenario.

If you are experienced in OO and/or components and care about Web development, I would suggest that you have a look at Tapestry. I would be very surprised if you do not find it a far more viable solution for your needs than JSP or Struts, for example.

Mind Bridge