Best Web Development Frameworks: An Overview

To establish a steadfast online presence, having a website is a must for businesses. Even retailers who rely heavily on in-person shopping have turned to the internet to expand their reach in recent years. Websites with user-friendly and sophisticated designs attract new visitors most effectively. 

Netflix, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are notable names transforming the web app experience for users. What magic potion do these tech giants have in common that allows them to deliver high-performance applications? The answer is simple – a trustworthy web application framework. Web frameworks are essential for developing robust, interactive, and powerful frontend and backend applications.

What is a Web Development Framework?

A framework is a set of tools used in programming, an essential ‘guide’ to assist in developing well-structured, dependable software and systems. A web development framework helps build web applications such as web services, web resources, and web APIs. A web framework provides access to ready-made components, snippets of code, or templates used in web development via a library.

Top Frameworks for Web Development

With the web development framework market exploding today, choosing the right one can be difficult, especially with so many options at hand. Here is a list of the top web development frameworks you should be aware of, along with the features that set them apart from the competition. Let us discuss the most popular web frameworks.

Frontend Frameworks

Frontend frameworks are one of the most progressive aspects of web design and development. These frameworks determine web applications’ aesthetics, user experience, and visual appeal. It improves the look and feel of websites and mobile applications while boosting them.  You should have an understanding about the frameworks before approaching eCommerce Development Services.

Let us look at a few of them.

React JS

In 2013, Meta (formerly Facebook) introduced React (or React JS). It has grown in popularity in the web development industry since then. React is, in reality, an open-source JavaScript library that you can use to create interactive user interfaces that will help any developer to use it for frontend development. 

React is a better choice for building dynamic web applications or single-page applications. React can even be used to create mobile apps. It’s simple to learn, SEO-friendly, and adaptable. React provides the best server-side rendering and excellent SEO support compared to other frontend frameworks. Netflix, Instacart, Salesforce, Flipboard, Dropbox, Asana, and other widespread online applications use React JS.

Key Features:
    • Factors like Virtual Document Object Model (DOM) enhance its functionality. Even heavy-load applications will run smoothly and generate soon, especially to its virtual DOM.
    • Organises code and data, making it reusable
    • A cross-platform mobile development framework.
    • The information flow is unidirectional, making it less prone to errors and easier to debug.
    • Because of React’s flexibility, developers can create applications that dynamically adapt to any user interface. React has been used by software engineers to develop applications for a wide range of user interfaces, including web, mobile, desktop, smart TVs, and so on.

Angular

Google released AngularJS, an open-source JavaScript framework, in 2010. The framework stepped into the spotlight and grabbed the attention of significant technological players with the release of the rewritten version “Angular 2.0.” The new version enables the development of high-performance and large-scale JavaScript-based web applications. 

Angular applications run smoothly on web and mobile platforms thanks to their robust features and ability to work with cross-platform and client-side frameworks. In addition to web development tools, Angular promotes code consistency by utilizing HTML, CSS, and TypeScript (a superset of JavaScript). Because of typeScript, this framework is ideal for developing enterprise-level applications—PayPal, Forbes, UpWork, Microsoft Xbox, and other well-known web applications that use Angular JS.

Key Features:
  • The use of boilerplate coding in Angular reduces development time.
  • Can reuse components and structure, which reduces development time 
  • It increased reusability and application scalability.
  • Open-source libraries such as Angular Material and AgGrid make it possible to create a responsive and dynamic user interface. 
  • Angular CLI (Command Line Interface) is one of the most effective command line interfaces for developing, scaffolding, and maintaining web applications.
  • Angular supports Chrome and Firefox Dev tools for debugging web applications. The framework also houses a large number of third-party libraries.

 

Vue JS

The origins of Vue.js can be traced back to 2013 when Evan You was working at Google, creating numerous prototypes within a browser. Evan used best practices from other frameworks he worked with for this purpose, and in 2014 released Vue.js. It is a progressive JavaScript framework to create web interfaces and single-page applications. 

Vue.js is also used for desktop development with the Electron framework and for building apps for Android and iOS with NativeScript, Ionic Framework7, Vuetify, and other mobile UI frameworks. Vue’s HTML extension and JS foundation quickly established it as a popular frontend tool, as evidenced by its adoption by companies such as Adobe, Behance, Alibaba, Gitlab, and Xiaomi.

Key Features:
  • The virtual DOM improves application performance and the efficiency of DOM updates. 
  • An easy-to-use framework for web development by making scaffolding and prototyping more accessible. Furthermore, it reduces the time required to develop the project.
  • It is possible to use this framework as a library or module in an existing application or to build the entire application. It improves the web application development process’s flexibility.

jQuery

jQuery, one of the oldest players, is still thriving and relishing the opportunity to be adored by developers. It was released in 2006 as an open-source, lightweight JavaScript library to help developers build robust web applications. It has gained a lot of popularity since then due to its rich features.

It’s a small, fast JavaScript library that makes interacting with HTML elements and JavaScript code easier. JQuery makes web pages more interactive by simplifying CSS animations, event handling, and Ajax calls. One significant advantage of using jQuery is that it coheres to SEO-friendly practices and does not require extensive javascript code.

Key Features:
  • jQuery makes it simple to select DOM elements and modify their content
  • With jQuery, you can start an animation, send data to servers, add a class, and perform other actions efficiently. As a result, binding and unbinding event handlers become faster.
  • Plugins are an essential part of jQuery because they allow developers to extend the functionality of a web application. Numerous plugins on the web enhance jQuery with features such as Ajax helpers, data grids, XML and XSLT tools, dynamic lists, and so on. These make it simple and quick to create web apps.

Backend Frameworks

The importance of backend web development frameworks is beyond words. Yes, frontend frameworks are responsible for an app or website’s overall look and feel. However, the magic happens at the backend. It is thus critical to ensure that your backend web development framework is up to the task.

 

Express.js

 Express.js has many features that make it a good choice for a backend framework. First and foremost, this framework is in JavaScript. You won’t have to learn new syntax if you’re already using JavaScript for other parts of your development process. 

Second, Express employs Node.js. It implies that many tools and resources are already available, and we can install them with an NPM Install command. It also means that many excellent debugging tools are available, making Express.js development a breeze.

Key Features:
      • Simple and easy to setup and customization
      • Super-quick integration with template engines like Jade, Vash, etc.

Info 

Django

Django is one of the most popular web development frameworks. It uses Python, the most popular computer programming language, and uses many of the features that have made Python so popular. 

Python’s popularity also ensures that Django has a large and active developer community, which is why most projects like GitHub and StackOverflow use Django. For starters, it implies that there is someone who can answer any questions you may have. It also means a vast body of knowledge, making learning and implementing this backend framework much more manageable.

Key Features:
      • Python web framework makes it easy to learn
      • Better documentation and a very well-established library for any developer
      • SEO optimized, making it better than others
      • Gets implemented without any defects or errors
      • Versatile in nature

  Info 

Ruby on Rails

 For many of the same reasons as Django, Ruby On Rails is another popular backend web development framework. It’s open-source and free. It has a sizable developer community. It also implies that numerous Ruby On Rails resources is available, making learning more accessible. Ruby On Rails is well-known for its security and scalability. Not bad for a web framework that is entirely free and open-source!

Key Features:
      • Offers localized code option
      • Excellent coding tools
      • A comprehensive library of resources for reference
      • A vibrant community for support
      • Highly scalable and secured

 

Laravel

Laravel, a PHP backend framework, is a cross between Django and Ruby On Rails. It, like Ruby On Rails, is free and open-source. It’s also trendy, so it has numerous tools and resources. It, like Ruby On Rails, is scalable and secure. It is also widely used and simple to learn, comparable to Django, and adheres to the MVC architecture, making it quick and easy to develop and deploy apps and websites.

Key Features:
      • Innovative Template Engine
      • MVC Architecture Support through Built-In Functions
      • Authorization Technique for Coding
      • Strong Application Security

 

Conclusion

Frameworks are a crucial part of web development. Using frameworks supported by thousands of developers worldwide is thus an excellent way to create rich and interactive web applications. The number of Web Frameworks has increased dramatically recently, so selecting the proper framework for your project is really important.

The best web development frameworks are listed above. It will help you create an impressive online presence for your business. You can choose the one that is most fitting for your application. Using these well-known frameworks to build websites can significantly accelerate the development process. 

Remember that to continue growing, you must constantly migrate and adopt new technologies. As a result, the business expansion will never come to a halt. Choose a framework and start with it; it will give you a better idea of how to proceed, and there will be many similarities between frameworks. 

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About the Author

Ronan Healy

Hi everyone. I'm part of the EuroSTAR team. I'm here to help you engage with the EuroSTAR Huddle Community and get the best out of your membership. Together with software testing experts, we have a range of webinars and eBooks for you to enjoy and we have lots of opportunities for you to come together online. If you have any thoughts about the community, please get in contact with me.
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