title: Best-of-breed JavaScript datatable widget/library
body: <p>I've used a couple datatable widgets in the past, including <a href="http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/datatable/" rel="nofollow">YUI2's</a>, and I'm curious to know if there's a perceived frontrunner out there. I'm excited for <a href="http://blog.jqueryui.com/2011/02/unleash-the-grid/" rel="nofollow">jQuery Grid</a>, but I haven't seen anything since it was announced.</p>
  
  <p>What I'd like to see in a datatable provider:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Can consume JSON arrays of arbitrary objects' key-value pairs; YUI2's ability to declare a schema to map these objects to columns does well (even though rest of the API is a bit verbose, clunky).</p></li>
  <li><p>Provides an ability to filter via text fields</p></li>
  <li><p>Supports client-side pagination (an ability to swap out with server-side pagination would be a plus).</p></li>
  <li><p>Supports a means to customize the presentation/format of cells with arbitrary HTML (links, images, etc.)</p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>With no further guidance, I'm likely to look into <a href="http://www.datatables.net/" rel="nofollow">DataTables</a> and <a href="http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/3/datatable/" rel="nofollow">YUI3 DataTable</a>. Recommendations?</p>