JSP 2.0 (with JSTL)

Agility

JSP is fairly agile under the right set-up. With most app servers everytime a jsp file is touched it is re-compiled and you will see the results on the next page load.

The controller in this scenario is a Java servlet, so a change in the controller will require a rebuild and application restart. There shouldn't be happening much in our controllers though.

Support

JSP is very well supported. It is a Sun product and is the basis for other popular frameworks including Struts.

Skinability

Nothing special.

Performance / Scalability

Very good - jsp's are compiled into java servlets so no parsing has to happen. Also, since it's just plain jane JSP there's not a lot of features slowing it down.

I8ln

JSTL has tag library for accessing J2SE MessageResource^? bundles. Application is responsible for determining what Locale is appropriate for given user.

Expression / Templating Language

The expression language is pretty powerful, simple and easy to read - simply evaluates anything in braces preceded by a dollar sign. Typical use: "Welcome ${firstName} to Scooby!"

The templating language for JSP comes in the form of html-like tags. Using these tags you can perform (amongst other things) for-each loops, conditionals, and String manipulation.

It is quite adequate for Scooby's needs.

Componentization

It is extremely easy to create parameterized component-like blocks of html through tag files. Although I would not consider them true components (due to their inability to maintain state, lack of a backing class for logic) this is adequate for Scooby.

Summary

Using just JSP without any additional framework is the most conservative and lightweight approach to take. There's no complicated configuration, there's good support and what it does it does well and simply.