I've been procrastinating learning some framework for web apps w/ some library for AJAX, something like django with prototype, or turbogears with mootools, or zeta components with dojo, grok, jquery, symfony... The point is to spend some of my spare time, have "fun" and create cool stuff that hopefully is some useful. I think maybe I wouldn't like something like GWT or pyjamas because I wouldn't like to "get married" with some technology, I want to keep my freedom to add another javascript library, and so on.

I didn't decide even the language yet, but I think I'd prefer python. PHP could be fine if there is some framework that is nice enough.

Besides that, I don't even know where to start. I don't feel like learning a framework to then realize there is something that I cannot comfortably do, switch to another framework then find that a third framework has something really cool, etc. And the same goes for javascript libraries. So, some guidance would be really appreciated. I don't really know why are so many options available and what do they aim for, I guess some of them focus on some aspects and some on others, but I just want to make cool and nice apps that I can easily maintain, without spending too much time on coding or learning and avoiding the "trapped in the framework" feeling, when doing something is awfully complicated (or even impossible) with compared with the rest of things or doing that same thing on a different framework.

I guess in the end I'll go for django and jquery since they are the most widely used options, afaik, but if I was going for the most widely used options I guess I should choose Java or PHP (I don't really like Java for my spare time, but php is not so bad), so I preferred to ask first.

I think the question has to consider both, framework and library, since sometimes they are coupled. I think this is the place to ask this kind of things, sorry if not, and thank you.