[ramtatatam]

I'm not a javascript guru and there was a time I was reluctant to use any framework - such a luck we grow up from silly ideas :-)

jQuery: 1) 4 hours 2) 3 3) depending on code base, maintainability can be extremely easy but it can also be extremely spaghettti 4) cross-browser compatibility of client-side scripts that manipulate DOM

linked-in dust: 1) ~1 hour 2) 3 3) 3 4) cross-browser compatibility, small size, one of the fastest

jQuery-ui: 1) ~1 hour 2) 3 3) 3 4) cross-browser compatibility, granular control over what features I deploy

[warfangle]

I'd argue that none of those are frameworks: they're utility belts.