Evolution of Front-End Frameworks: React, Vue, and Angular Changing Web Development.

Introduction

Whether you are trying to create a website, software, or an application (web or mobile), the development process is basically split into two parts: front-end and back-end. While front-end development handles the visual aspects, back-end development handles the server side of the website or application that the users cannot see. However, in this blog, we’ll discuss front-end development and frameworks. 

A front-end framework is a tool or platform used to create and customize the visual elements of a website or application (including the designs, layouts, typographies, etc.) and improve its user experience. These platforms provide the developers with several graded design components they can reuse across multiple projects, ensuring a faster development process and improved consistency.

If you're looking for a web development company to help you with front-end development, it's advisable to conduct thorough research and consider their expertise, portfolio, client reviews, and pricing. Many web development companies specialize in front-end development and can assist you in creating visually appealing and user-friendly websites or applications.

Let’s see the importance of using front-end development frameworks.

• Consistent branding image: One of the significant purposes of UI is to convey a company’s branding image to the users. Through the front-end frameworks, you can keep the company’s online image consistent throughout the website and application on different devices. 
• Performance: Front-end frameworks let you ensure faster load times and better performance through code optimization. So your users will open and interact with the website or app more effortlessly, improving the overall experience. 
• User experience: The visual elements created by front-end frameworks help make page navigation much easier, improving the user experience of the site or app. 
• Compatibility and accessibility: Nowadays, people use a variety of devices and browsers to access sites or apps. More than the functionalities, people notice the changes in visual aspects more easily. So with front-end frameworks, you can ensure more consistency in terms of how your app or site looks and interacts on different devices. 
• Accessibility: Your website or app should also be clearly visible to disabled people. So with the front-end frameworks, you can create high-contrast and responsive designs that are visible to everyone, regardless of their disabilities. 

So obviously, front-end frameworks are essential for website development, and there are several options for developers to choose from. 

In this blog, we’ll take a look at the evolution of front-end frameworks and discuss three of the most frequently-used front-end frameworks for websites and applications and how you can choose between them. 

Evolution of Front-End Frameworks

When talking about front-end frameworks, you can’t help but mention jQuery. Initially released in 2006, jQuery is one of the earliest frameworks for front-end development. One of the highlights of this platform has always been “minimum effort, maximum work.”It packs a bunch of common tasks into methods that need less coding. So, you get quicker and more efficient development, perfect for lead nurturing email campaigns,

The popularity of this platform for front-end development rose in the early 2010s and has been one of the preferences for developers due to its user-friendly interface. But since its inception around 17 years ago, web development has evolved multifold, surfacing some of the glaring limitations of jQuery. 

jQuery has an extensive variety of plugins in its library. So sometimes, people tend to include way too many of them in for the website, which leads to bloated code and slow performance. But this issue can be countered quite easily by selecting the essential plugins after careful consideration.

Another drawback of jQuery is its speed, which is slower than the native JavaScript. This issue especially comes forth when someone tries to access a jQuery website on their mobile device. That’s why more and more developers are ditching jQuery for native JavaScript. 

But arguably, one of the most significant issues with this framework is that most of its highlight features, like event handling, DOM manipulation, and AJAX support, are in-built into the browsers nowadays. 

After jQuery, there are React and Vue, two of the most frequently-used front-end frameworks. Introduced by Facebook in 2013, React is a front-end framework that helps create simple and complex reusable UIs with its component-based approach. Then, Vue was introduced shortly after in 2014 and is one of the preferred options for creating web applications of all scales with its reactive binding and two-way binding. 

Then there’s Angular, an open-source, front-end framework introduced by Google in 2010. Written in JavaScript language, this framework is used for creating and customizing the user interface of websites and applications. It is widely regarded as one of the best front-end platforms because of its faster development speed, efficiency, and easy integration with other platforms. 

Although it’s not to say that jQuery doesn’t have a place in the web development space anymore, platforms like React, Vue, and Angular definitely hold an upper hand over it, especially when it comes to user-friendliness and better performance. 

A Closer Look At React, Vue, and Angular

Over the years, there have been several front-end frameworks, but three of the best are React, Vue, and Angular. So let’s focus on these three for now.

• React

React is an open-source, front-end framework used to build creative user interfaces for web applications. Being a component-based library, this framework splits the UI into several smaller reusable components to ensure more efficient management and updation. 

With more than 179K stars on GitHub, React is one of the most popular frameworks for creating highly-dynamic user interfaces for web applications, mobile applications, and even single-page applications (SPAs). You can opt for this platform for creating mobile apps for both iOS and Android. A few of its popular features include declarative programming, virtual DOM, JSX, etc.

Now, let’s check out the pros and cons of the React framework.

Pros:

• Efficient UI updations through a virtual DOM.
• Easy code reuse through component-based architecture.
• Easier-to-learn framework for those familiar with JavaScript.
• Its massive community means plenty of helpful resources in case of issues at any stage of development.

Cons:

• Although easier for expert developers, React can be a little challenging for beginners.
• The special syntax JSX used in React can be a little confusing for people unfamiliar with it.
• Lack of built-in features like data fetching and routing.
• For creating better UIs, you’ll need additional tools like Babel and Webpack, which will make the development process more complex. 

Although React is one of the most powerful frameworks for creating dynamic UIs, it can be a little more challenging for those unfamiliar with its syntaxes. 

• Vue

Released in 2014, Vue is an open-source front-end framework with more than 191K stars on GitHub. It is used for developing creative user interfaces for web apps, mobile apps, and single-page applications (SPAs). 

One of the biggest reasons for Vue’s popularity is that it is simple and user-friendly. Moreover, it uses a declarative approach, with which you will just need to define your desired outcome, and this platform will develop the underlying logic accordingly. It is also lightweight, fast, flexible, scalable, and involves a relatively smooth learning curve. 

Let’s check out the pros and cons of the Vue framework.

Pros:

• Compared to React, Vue is easier to learn for developers familiar with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
• It has reactive data binding, thanks to which, when you make changes to the data, they will reflect in the UI immediately. So you can make the necessary rectifications with ease.
• Its component-based architecture means you can reuse the code and create more complex UIs, more efficiently.
• Vue is scalable and flexible for both small and large-scale applications.

Cons: 

• The community network of this framework is smaller and less noteworthy than React. 
• When it comes to large-scale applications, the support may not be adequate. 
• Although the built-in tools and features can help with small and medium-scale apps, you will need additional libraries for large-scale apps, making the development process that much more complex.

So looking at these pros and cons, it’s pretty clear that this front-end framework is more than adequate for small and medium-scale apps but may not be suitable for large-scale projects. 

• Angular

Launched in 2010, Angular is also an open-source front-end framework used to create more complex and dynamic UIs for websites, single-page applications (SPAs), and web and mobile applications. 

Angular has more than 78K stars on GitHub, thanks to its enterprising features like dependency injection, template-driven and reactive forms, component-based architecture, RxJS (Reactive Extension Library for JavaScript), lazy loading, and AOT (ahead-of-time) compilation. That’s why people looking for performance-focused and scalable UIs for their applications go for Angular. 

Let’s see the pros and cons of the Angular framework.

Pros:

• With features like routing, forms, data management, etc. Angular proves to be a well-rounded development platform for web applications.
• Angular has a massive community, which means a plethora of libraries and resources for developers.
• With the dependency injection of Angular, you can manage the dependencies and write reusable code pretty easily.
• Like React and Vue, this framework has a component-based architecture, making it easier to reuse the codes and create more complex user interfaces.

Cons:

• Angular has a steeper learning curve, so you’ll need to invest some time and effort to create dynamic UIs for your applications.
• Angular’s syntax can be quite complex for those unfamiliar with JavaScript.
• Angular’s syntax and codebase are also harder to maintain.

While Angular has a steeper learning curve, it is a more powerful framework and is quite a suitable option for larger, more complex applications.

Although all three of these platforms are highly popular and more than competent for creating dynamic UIs, this comparison table for Angular Vs React Vs Vue will help make choosing between them a little easier.

Comparison Between React, Vue, and Angular

How To Choose The Right Front-end Framework?

Selection Criteria For Choosing The Best Front-end Framework

As mentioned earlier, when you are trying to create or customize the user interface of a website, web or mobile app, or SPA (single page application), there are several front-end frameworks to choose from. But how do you select the most suitable one? So we have compiled a list of selection criteria following which you can choose the most suitable platform for your project. 

Here are the selection criteria for front-end frameworks:

• Popularity: Popularity is one of the most significant factors to consider when choosing a new front-end framework, or any software for that matter. It shows what professional front-end development companies are frequently choosing for their projects and helps check if the platform is trustworthy. Moreover, if you have any issues with any stage of the development process, you can rest assured there are community experts who can help you. 
• User-friendliness: User-friendliness is key in almost every framework. If the platform has the best features but isn’t user-friendly, ultimately, you’ll have difficulty creating a good UI for your project. So check the extensions, libraries, and CLIs and use the framework on smaller projects to see if it’s easy to understand and develop with.
• Mobile Support: A vast majority of web traffic comes from mobile devices. So it’s important you choose a framework that can help you create responsive designs for mobile app UIs. 
• Flexible: Consider the extent of customization and flexibility while sifting through the framework options. Some frameworks offer pre-built components and styles that can make it easier to create the UI more quickly. 
• Core Features: Check the core features offered by all frameworks and compare them with respect to your requirements and expectations from the project. The core features should be able to support the development, maintenance, and update of UI with relative ease and offer good performance, scalability, and customizability.
• Ease of Integration: Sometimes, it’s impossible to work on a particular project without additional tools, resources, and libraries. So your chosen framework should support easy integration with other supplementary tools, especially for functions like formatting time, rich-text editing, DOM manipulation, data processing, etc. 

If you are looking for a front-end framework for your website or application, these selection criteria points will help you choose the best one suitable for your project. 

Which Front-end Framework To Go For?

One way to choose a framework is by considering the above-mentioned criteria points. But there is another way to go about it. You can select the perfect platform according to what they are most popularly used for.

So let’s take a look at the use cases of React, Vue, and Angular frameworks. 

Use Cases Of React

• eCommerce Site or App UIs
• SPAs (single-page applications)
• Social Media Apps
• Start-up UIs (thanks to the room for scalability)

Use Cases Of Vue

• SPAs and PWAs (progressive web applications)
• Highly-interactive UIs with animations.
• Customizing existing projects with new tech
• Small and medium-scale applications

Use Cases Of Angular

• Large-scale complex applications
• Complex, data-driven applications with a focus on performance and scalability
• PWAs and SPAs with complicated routing and navigation requirements
• UIs for video streaming apps, eCommerce apps, real-time data apps, etc.

Now, if you want to create a dynamic UI for your web or mobile app or website, take a look at these use cases and choose the suitable front-end framework accordingly. 

Conclusion

So which one of the three do we think is the best front-end framework? Well, it’s not as easy an answer as you may think. Although slow, Angular is the most well-rounded framework, and if the developer is familiar with the typescript, it will be an excellent choice. Then there’s React, which would be suitable for those starting in the JavaScript space and want a little flexibility with the development process. And last but not least, Vue would be the one to go with if you want a combination of features from React and Vue with a touch of simplicity. 

But ultimately, everyone’s front-end development approach is different, and the framework you choose will depend on what your project demands along with your final expectations. So choose wisely or get in touch with a professional front-end development company that will select the best one and create a dynamic UI for you. 

Author Bio - Palak is a quality content writer for WPWeb Infotech in WordPress, tech, and small businesses. She is an incredible team player and works closely with the team to achieve great results. She watches Netflix and read Non-fiction, self-help, and autobiographies of great personalities.