Writing on the occasion of the release this week of the JavaServer Faces 1.0 specification, over two years in the making, Mann defines JSF as "a set of APIs that facilitate component-oriented, event-driven Web development."

"It represents the standardization of dozens of efforts in the Java community to simplify the task of building Web applications," he adds.

"Any time the community builds dozens of solutions to a problem, there is an obvious need, and fulfilling such a need can lead to huge productivity gains. Since so much application development these days is Web development, enhanced productivity in this space is a Big Deal," Mann continues. "Individual frameworks can increase productivity, but when the majority of the community supports a single framework, the force of the gain is multiplied. A good example of this is the support for Struts in tools, other frameworks, and books. In effect, Struts is the de-facto standard, and its heavy industry support has intensified its utility."

JSF, Mann explains, is an attempt to bring Struts-level momentum to a framework that focuses on the user interface side of things.

He also underlines the role of JSF in a Java vs .NET perspective:

"If this vision of powerful visually-oriented IDEs with a full-fledged user interface component model sounds familiar, this is certainly not an accident. Make no mistake: JSF is a direct competitor to Microsoft ASP.NET WebForms, which enjoys tight integration with Visual Studio.NET. More importantly, JSF is an attempt to fill a hole in the standard Java stack - a hole that .NET has had fully fleshed out since day one.

JavaServer Faces is also at the center of a much larger goal of the Java community, also partially fueled by competition with .NET: simplification. You've seen this spun in different ways, like 'targeting corporate developers,' 'simpler Java,' and so on. Since most business applications today are web applications, this means 'simplify Web development.' So no matter how complex some may think JSF is, using it is quite the opposite, and I think it can deliver its promise."

Mann believes sufficiently in the central role that JSF will play to found JSF Central aimed at keeping developers abreast of JavaServer Faces technology and helping all those involved - from front-end and application developers to those developing components, tools, and implementations - exchange information and grow.