Best server-side framework for heavy AJAX Java application

Question

There are zillions of Java web application frameworks.

95% were designed before the modern era of AJAX/DHTML-based development, and that means these new methods are

Answer 1

I'd consider REST-style frameworks as well as the other recommendations here- Restlet or Jersey may be good choices for the backend, while you use something like JQuery or GWT on the front end. Both frameworks can easily produce JSON, and the REST style provides a nice clean line of demarcation between your client application and your server source; I find that JSF can make that demarcation pretty muddy.