Is Struts the most popular web application framework for Java?

By: Emiley J.

Yes. By any objective measure, Struts continues to be the most popular web application framework for Java.

As of 2006, the vast majority of job offerings for Java developers cite Struts as prerequisite. According to OnJava magazine between their reader surveys for 2005 and 2004 the popularity of Struts remained steady. Likewise, the number of Struts articles published in all online journals also remained constant between 2004 and 2005. (For a complete list, see the Struts Central website.) New and updated books about Struts continue to be published regularly.

While some people characterize the space of Java web application framework as being "fragmented", the truth is that more web developers use Struts than all other alternatives combined. This observation is as true in 2006 as it was in 2005, as it was in 2004. It's probably been true since Struts released its 1.0 version in 2001.

Of course, some developers are finding that JavaServer Faces can be a faster way to write new applications, especially modest intranet applications. And that's great! More than anything else, every Struts committer wants every developer to get more out of every work day. (We're developers too!) As these new JSF applications grow in complexity, we're glad that Apache Shale is ready to do for JSF developers what Struts has been doing for JSP developers, year after year after year.

Meanwhile, enterprise web developers who have standardized on Struts can be assured that new releases of Struts 1 will continue, even as we break new ground with Struts 2.