Choosing a front-end framework based on its syntax that is easy to learn, has good performance while building an application and offers a great ecosystem with a lot of features and an active community is important for a developer.
When it comes to creating intuitive and pleasant interfaces as well as receiving or manipulating data from the back-end, then a front-end framework is needed as it represents the layer of the application. Often, front-end is referred as the stuff that the user sees and interacts with. So, when it comes to choosing the best framework for a better user experience then there are a lot of options to choose from depending on your needs.
In this blog, we have listed out the top 5 best frontend frameworks for 2021.
React.js
The first one is React. React is a JS library rather than a framework. On their official page it is referred as a library. It is quite minimalistic and focused on UI-building. When it comes to built-in features, it has less than other frameworks, therefore if you need router, http or state management solutions then you have to install community packages that conform to these features. React syntax is different from Angular or Vue as it doesn’t include the HTML and JS file separation. Instead everything is JavaScript and the component which accepts inputs and renders them to the screen is a JavaScript function which has a special syntax called JSX. JSX can be used in your code to basically describe to React which HTML content it should render in the virtual DOM based on a certain condition. Because the React community is large and quite active, you will find solutions regarding the features that it needs for large or complex projects.
Vue.js
Second comes Vue.js. Vue is a flexible framework that offers a two-way binding through the v-model directives. These directives apply certain behaviors to the DOM in sync with the HTML when the data changes or updates without the need to know about it. Vue is the quite opposite approach from React. The syntax for Vue is like VanillaJS when you have a separate HMTL and a JavaScript file that belongs to the HMTL part. Basically, you find different ways to connect these two files together and then dynamically manipulate HTML with a specific template syntax which Vue understands when it parses HMTL code. Also, when it comes to performance it comes with small bundle sizes which speeds up the load of an app.
Angular.js
Then comes Angular. Angular.js is a large framework with a lot of built-in features like validation, http requests, routing, state management, form validation and processing. It is more of a platform than a framework. Angular ecosystem also comprises command tools like: CLI for managing and creating projects and easy to add PWA(progressive web app support). Angular offers two-way data binding meaning that the model and view work in sync with each-other, so when a specific change occurs it is automatically updated without the need to know about it. Angular syntax offers a separation of HMTL and JavaScript files where you define the HTML templates and add certain instructions which is understood by the framework: like adding an event handler or repeating an element. Then, on the JavaScript file which has Typescript logic, it communicates with the HTML template and manipulates it automatically behind the scenes and uses that when needed. Angular documentation offers a broad variety of features that are built-in and what you can do with it, therefore it is really helpful depending on your use cases.
Svelte.js
Svelte is used for making interactive web pages especially with strong security features. It has no virtual DOM and saves time by writing fewer lines of code. Svelte is a compiler, therefore a JavaScript file is loaded for the page to render the application. All the updates are acquired at runtime and what makes it efficient is that it doesn’t load all of the library while compiling which leads to smaller files in size and especially useful for mobile devices. Svelte is easy to get started if you have JavaScript, HTML and CSS knowledge.
Backbone.js
The last one is Backbone. Backbone is a lightweight library for structuring JavaScript code. It is regarded as an MVC kind of framework. It does provide the concept of models and views but to be more specific Backbone views are more like controllers in the classic MVC, so it is more of a MV kind of framework. More accurate, it is not a framework but a library that you can use any way you want. It offers features like: routers which can be used for creating SPA. It also decouples and maintains code. According to its performance it is quite good as it doesn’t run on loops, avoids two-way binding and provides a lot of plugins and extensions. It works really good over a set of RESTFUL APIs by creating, validating, destroying or saving to the server.
Conclusion
This blog describes a general sense of what these frameworks offer and their rich set features. What matters on your choice is whether your application you are going to build is complex or if you want to use a clean architecture that is maintainable by following rules and guidelines that are easier for you. Most of the times frameworks are chosen based on their popularity or how familiar you are with them. Considering that, it’s up to you to choose one of the recommended frameworks.
Service
