Site Assets vs. Style Library

Question

I usually store my JavaScript/jQuery files in the Site Assets library, but I see on forums that others are using the Style Library.

What are the respective benefits of each?

Answer 1

Resources in Style Library will most likely send the correct caching headers.

There were issues in 2007, here is a good rundown.

http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2009/05/optimization-blob-caching-and-http-304s.html

Answer 2

Another option is to deploy this to your _LAYOUTS folder.

As djeeg point out, Style Library has issues (304's due to incorrect max-age). I am not sure this is fixed (it would surprise me!).

Another plus for storing in a virtual directory is that you can use them across web applications, since they reside in the SharePoint root folder. This ofcourse can also be a weakness if you need permissions or versioning, so as usually when we are talking SharePoint, the answer is "it depends" :-)

Answer 3

Style Library is the default for pub portal template sites (i.e. internet facing sites).