Any web developer worth their salt has spent a reasonable amount of time mastering JavaScript. The programming language is a standard part of modern web development; thus, it’s one of the most updated tools on the market.
To simplify coding with JavaScript, various frameworks are available. These databases enable developers to build web and mobile applications efficiently and quickly. JS frameworks can handle functions such as authentication, data management, user interface creation, and server-side communication, attracting both new and experienced developers.
Choosing the proper framework for web applications is crucial because it significantly affects their speed and performance. Below, we’ve listed 7 JavaScript frameworks and their advantages, key features, and use cases to make this decision easier.
1. Angular
The open-source Angular framework, maintained by Google’s Angular Team and supported by passionate users, is written in TypeScript. It features a component-based structure, extensive TypeScript libraries, and handy developer tools for building, testing, and updating code. The logic behind this framework relies on fundamental concepts, including components, modules, templates, and data binding.
Advantages & Key Features
NgModules are at the heart of Angular. They’re compilations of related components and code that define the function of specific parts of an application. Similar to JavaScript modules, NgModules also lets you import and export functionalities from existing NgModules.
Angular’s component-based architecture is another key feature. It allows developers to reuse their chosen components across different projects, making code more readable and easier to maintain.
Furthermore, Angular features a simple yet powerful syntax. It extends HTML to easily declare component functions and state changes. The framework even utilizes two-way data binding to connect the Model and View layers, ensuring consistent updates across them. As a result, you don’t need to modify an HTML DOM (Document Object Model), as it’s tedious and usually results in errors.
When it comes to community support, Angular checks this box. It’s hosted on Google and has a large community of over 1,600 GitHub contributors. Additionally, developers can learn the ins and outs of Angular with excellent documentation, numerous resources, and other developers ready to assist them.
Use Cases
Angular is considered one of the most efficient and secure platforms to build robust and complex single-page applications (SPAs). It works best for enterprise-scale applications because it’s scalable and easy to maintain. Additionally, Angular emphasizes testing and enables you to adhere to best coding practices.
2. React.js
React is a declarative JavaScript framework designed to build fast and interactive UI elements. It’s a popular choice when creating mobile and web applications.
Like Angular, React uses components as its basic, reusable building blocks. It also loads content very quickly, using a feature called a virtual DOM. The model renders modified content instead of the entire web page.
Advantages & Key Features
In React, components are split into two types: stateless functional components and stateful class components.
- Stateless components are plain JavaScript functions that accept data and return them as HTML or React elements. In other words, they derive and display UI properties with no render method.
- In contrast, stateful class components require a render function and are used to maintain internal properties and states.
Separating concerns and using a downward directional data flow architecture make React easy to learn and manage. Changing a state in one component can’t affect the rest of the properties in the application.
React also utilizes the JSX (JavaScript Syntax) extensions to help visualize UI elements and simplify component writing. This way, your code becomes readable, simpler, and manageable.
Moreover, React is continually updated with new features, including Hooks, Fiber, Concurrent Mode, and Suspense. Using these functions means reduced reliance on templated code, improved concurrency and rendering speed, and enhanced performance. They make React one of the best JavaScript frameworks out there.
Use Cases
If you want to improve a website’s SEO or maintain its search rankings while it’s redesigned, using React is a good idea. It has become one of the most SEO-friendly front-end JavaScript frameworks, allowing search engine crawlers to access and scan websites built on it.
Conversely, standard JavaScript frameworks capable of dynamic content rendering can harm a website’s SEO and block search engine crawlers from indexing web pages.
Online platforms with highly dynamic components, such as Airbnb, Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix, are built using React. Seasoned web developers also use this framework to create custom extensions.
3. Ember.js
Like Angular, Ember is an open-source JavaScript framework. The tool provides developers with a comprehensive package for creating scalable SPAs for businesses. Ember uses a Model-View-ViewModel (MVVW) architecture.
Advantages & Key Features
This front-end JavaScript development framework is known for its CoC (convention over configuration) approach.
Developers follow established conventions to maintain consistency and cohesiveness throughout their code. Ultimately, CoC eliminates the need for configuration, enabling quick web application development. This benefit, combined with comprehensive documentation and community support, helps beginners learn the framework’s fundamentals.
Ember is characterized by its controller, view, and model layers, which interact to build robust applications.
- The model layer handles communication with the backend of your project.
- The view layer works with the DOM to display elements on the screen. It’s also the component that responds to user interactions, such as clicks, drags, and scrolls.
- Between these two layers lies the controller layer. Controllers receive data from a router and connect the view and model layers to switch between different states.
Moreover, the framework utilizes two-way data binding, enabling it to support complex user interfaces. Ember’s latest versions can be used with previous versions as well.
Use Cases
As we’ve mentioned, you can build SPAs with Ember. Beyond that, though, this JS framework emphasizes patterns and structure. It’s great to use if you’re after consistency and scalability on long-term projects.
4. Vue.js
Introduced in 2014, Vue is labeled as a progressive JavaScript framework for its gradual flexibility. This means it can be used to improve your current projects incrementally or build new, more advanced web applications.
Advantages & Key Features
With a small file size of 58 KB, Vue enables websites to load faster and run more efficiently. You won’t have to use more bandwidth, either, and the framework is downloadable and installed with its full library. As we all know, lightweight components have a positive impact on both UX and SEO.
Vue utilizes virtual DOM. Instead of updating the entire model, Vue maintains a copy of HTML pages and their contents, rendering only the parts that have been modified. In turn, you hasten page rendering and improve application performance.
Its virtual DOM is coupled with reactive two-way data binding, which immediately reflects changes in the model data onto the user interface. This method also helps to update related components and track changes hassle-free.
Moreover, Vue is a straightforward framework. React and Angular developers enjoy a simple learning curve and typeless syntax for more efficient coding. Vue also packs HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a single file for any specific component.
Use Cases
Vue lets you build extremely flexible user interfaces and SPAs with its simplicity. However, if you’re creating more complex SPAs, the framework is best used in conjunction with supported libraries.
Vue is the framework behind the websites of well-known brands like Adobe, Apple (specifically its SwiftUI system), Louis Vuitton, and Nintendo.
5. Svelte
This open-source, component-based JS framework is a leading tool built with TypeScript. Developed by Rich Harris, Svelte has gained significant popularity since its release in 2016.
Advantages & Key Features
Unlike traditional options like React or Vue, Svelte enables you to build components without boilerplate using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It then uses a compiler to organize code into vanilla JavaScript modules before running the app. The Svelte Compiler updates the DOM once a state change is executed, resulting in fast, high-performing apps because the framework doesn’t consume too much of a browser’s processing memory.
Another advantage of Svelte is its easy-to-learn structure, making it perfect for new developers. The framework’s reusable components are written in simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, allowing for use without relying on TypeScript or JSX.
Using Svelte also offers the following advantages:
- A smaller bundle size because it works without a heavy JavaScript framework runtime overhead and as a compiler
- An SEO-friendly framework just like Angular
- Support for client-side and server-side rendering
Use Cases
With its set of advantages, Svelte is perfect for building interactive pages or apps with complex visualizations. GoDaddy, Rakuten, and The New York Times are among the companies that utilize this framework for their websites.
6. Meteor.js
Meteor was built on Node.js with an isomorphic structure. It’s a slightly commercial yet free-to-use and open-source JavaScript framework with a complete set of tools and technologies for simpler real-time app development.
Since its initial release in December 2011 and formal launch the following year, Meteor has gained numerous users and has been integrated into multiple developed web apps and websites. It’s now a widely used JavaScript framework.
Advantages & Key Features
There’s only a slight learning curve involved when working with Meteor. The framework allows you to write in a single language (JavaScript) for both the front- and back-end of your app. Additionally, web apps can be built quickly.
Real-time updates add to Meteor’s appeal. Pages built on the framework are loaded with the latest information for a smoother and more dynamic user experience. Moreover, Meteor is backed by a large, passionate, and intense developer community.
Meteor’s architecture relies on three main components: a command line tool, the view layer, and the atmosphere.
- The command line tool is where you build and run your app.
- The view layer shows how the interface will appear to end users. Meteor supports three UI rendering libraries, namely Angular, React, and Blaze.
- The atmosphere refers to the collection of custom packages made by Meteor’s community. At the time of writing, there are 14,600 smart packages designed specifically for the framework.
Additionally, it provides clean and simple APIs and templates.
Use Cases
Many full-stack developers have chosen Meteor for fast prototyping and nearly template-free, real-time updates to web pages. If your developers seek both, they’ll love Meteor.
Meteor-based development is also ideal for startups and MVPs (minimum viable products). Combining Meteor with other web development tools and JavaScript frameworks can enhance its power.
7. Node.js
To complete this best JavaScript framework list, we’ve got the open-source Node. It’s a server-side platform compatible with multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS.
Node is built on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine, using it to run JavaScript code outside a web browser. While this framework only supports JavaScript, developers can adapt some programming languages to work with JavaScript. In turn, they can build Node-based apps with those languages.
Advantages & Key Features
What’s special about Node is it uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, which eliminates the waiting time between requests.
After receiving a task, the framework anticipates succeeding commands before returning content to the client. This chain of events contrasts with how PHP handles file requests, where the system prepares for another task after serving the content. Therefore, Node is very efficient since it works in quick succession.
The framework also boasts fast code execution and a single-threaded program that can handle a large number of requests, outperforming Apache and HTTP servers. Additionally, if you want to save on development costs, Node can reduce them by 58%. Long-time users have seen their development costs drop by 12%.
Use Cases
Node is the framework of choice for projects such as:
- I/O bound applications
- Data streaming applications
- Data-intensive real-time applications
- Single-page applications
It’s also been integrated into LinkedIn, eBay, Netflix, GoDaddy, and other popular websites.
Build Powerful Web Apps with the Best JavaScript Framework
Web app development requires a significant amount of time and effort, but JavaScript frameworks are available to expedite the process. The key is to choose one that meets your needs. Professional web developers and designers will review your project and select the best framework or JavaScript library for it.
Get a robust and fully functional web app when you work with DevWerkz’s skilled JavaScript developers. We possess the technical expertise to bring your ideas to life and keep them running smoothly. Contact us today to get started, and visit our blog for more updates and helpful guides to JavaScript development.
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