> learn backbone instead of jquery Backbone relies on some sort of DOM library like jQuery to function. Regardless, for any library, it's important to learn t

> learn backbone instead of jquery Backbone relies on some sort of DOM library like jQuery to function. Regardless, for any library, it's important to learn the fundamentals before using them, such as DOM basics in JavaScript before even using jQuery. To answer the original question, yes, it's important to learn server-side frameworks since there's still many things about them that client-side rendering can't do (better search engine optimization, progressive enhancement, accessibility).