Ideas can strike at any hour of the day. Where the imagination of creating a product that can take over the digital market by storm sounds tempting, there are, however, quite a few challenges that lie down the road to success. The very first dilemma a developer faces while creating a product is choosing the right front-end framework. The framework should be able to meet the product requirements. Front-end frameworks make it easier for developers and designers to create an amazing user experience. But if it is not chosen wisely, it can often turn into a nightmare.

FrontEnd Framwork

jQuery is a common JavaScript library used around the world, along with the other common options such as Bootstrap, JavaScript and Struts. Where a plethora of options sounds alluring, it becomes quite a task to narrow down to the one that can rightfully meet all the requisites of a project.

So, let’s look at some of the key metrics to consider that will help you choose the best front-end framework:

Availability of Resources

Sounds quite obvious right? But this is oftentimes overlooked. There are some frameworks available that look very eye-catchy and comes with a fancy home page. But in order to understand their code syntax and functionalities, you would need resources such as online tutorials, books, community discussions, and of course the documentation to help you get started.

As a front-end developer, one needs to understand that creating an awe-inspiring framework and communicating the core ideas behind it are two completely different aspects. There should be a reliable and easy-to-understand set of resources that can back up the complexities of the framework.

So, once you have listed some framework options to choose from, the next step should be to look for resources such as guides and whitepapers from trustworthy authors. Remember, if you are unable to find too many resources for a framework it might be not well adopted by the worldwide developer’s community.

Popularity

There are many reasons that back up this pointer. First of all, if a framework has not been too popular, it simply means that not many developers would be available for assistance when you need one. So, whenever you are in a dilemma, you would have to hunt for a developer that specializes in the framework. who specialize in it. If you do not find one, all you have for assistance would be the documentation, and eventually you would be losing out on the project.

AngularJS and ReactJS take the crown in this case. This is also the reason that most of the front-end developer job listings demand experience in either of the two frameworks.

Functionalities And Features

If you have been working with other frameworks for quite a while now, then this process would come easy and quick to you. Make a checklist of the following topics in the documentation:

  • Templating
  • HTTP Communication
  • Form Processing and validation
  • Routing

Now, these are some obvious tasks that you might be performing every day as a front-end developer. Now, there are some frameworks that do not come with these features as a core functionality. For instance, in the case of React and Vue, HTTP communication, form validation, and other features need to be configured by you.

Speaking of Ember framework, it offers almost every feature you would need. However, the core misses out on advanced form processing. So, you would basically be working a little differently with this framework as it features a custom data layer.

Reliability

When it comes to reliability, the first two front-end frameworks that come up are Angular and React, since these are respectively backed by Google and Facebook. In most of the other cases, the front-end frameworks are created by volunteers or developers who have experience in the niche and took it as a  full-time task. While choosing a framework for a project, it should be noted that the framework is actively taken care of and errors and glitches are timely taken care of.

The best way to do this to track the framework of Google Trends. Here, you will know of the team of developers behind the framework, their involvement in getting to  Github pull requests, and much more. If everything is good to go, you may have a framework to work on. Else, the framework might be losing steam and it is better to drift away from it.

With the pointers discussed above, let us take a quick look at some of the popular frameworks –

Bootstrap

Regarded as one of the most popular front-end frameworks,  it includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript and JS components. The framework came into existence back in 2011 and has evolved ever since. Today, Bootstrap has some of the latest features and functionalities to offer. The platform is based on responsive web design standards, which enables the web developers to create responsive sites.

Semantic UI

The next popular front-end framework in the list is the Semantic UI. A relatively new framework in the market, Semantic UI has gained a lot of popularity in a short span of time, thanks to its simplicity. The framework is fairly easy to lay hands on and It makes coding very easy even for beginners. Got issues while working with Semantic UI? You have a wide range of third-party libraries that backs you up.

Foundation

The final mention in the list of recommended front-end frameworks is an enterprise level framework – Foundation. If you need to create lightweight and responsive websites, then Foundation can be just the right match for your project. The framework is loaded with wide range of features and also comes with GPU acceleration (used for creating animations for mobile devices).

Conclusion

So how do you know which framework would be the best for your project? The best solution to this is to analyze the demographics of your project and narrow down to the framework that offers you with most compelling resources. Consider the usefulness of the framework,  its resources, its community, and once you have the right framework to work on, there is no looking back.

Read More- Common Ux Mistakes A Designer Shouldn’T Commit