5 Best Frontend Frameworks for Web Development in 2024

A frontend web developer's job is to create what users see on their displays while scrolling a website. The two key aims of today's web development are a great user experience and a short loading time. The use of frontend frameworks dramatically aids in the achievement of these objectives.

Several frontend frameworks are available on the internet, and most of them use JavaScript as their source language. Developers are still debating which is the best, so if you want to choose the right framework, you must examine several variables and a plethora of intricacies.

This comparison was created specifically for you if you're seeking a complete comparison of the most efficient, popular, or promising frontend frameworks in 2024. Enjoy your reading, and maybe it will help you make your decision! But before applying for the best frontend developer jobs, it is essential to understand what these frontend frameworks do.

Why do we use frontend frameworks?

Front-end development is the creation and implementation of a user-interactive online application or website. With over 1.8 billion websites on the internet and the technological revolution brought in by covid-19, it is clear that the desire for a clean, tidy, responsive, precise, and SEO-friendly frontend will reach new heights in the near future.

The user experience must be seamless, regardless of how complicated the tasks and procedures in the background of a website are. This is the top priority for all significant projects. Frontend frameworks that streamline the frontend development of dynamic, user-centric websites are required for flawless operations.

Frameworks may comprise utility applications, scripting languages, code libraries, and other software that aids in the creation and integration of diverse components of a significant software project. Developers don't start projects from scratch because of frameworks; instead, they have a base to build additional project-specific features. This allows you to boost the efficiency and dependability of your solutions while also speeding up the development process.

Before deciding on the finest frontend framework, let's look at essential elements to consider.

Top 8 criteria for choosing the best frontend framework

These factors should be taken into account when selecting the finest frontend framework for your forthcoming web project.

1. Core features:

Make an in-depth comparison of features between your preferred framework and other options. This phase will be simple to compare if you've worked with different web frontend frameworks before. Read the documentation and keep an eye out for their set of capabilities.

A framework is considered rich if it includes all of the necessary capabilities to support your project. You must make sure to check the kind of support the framework provides. Along with that, the framework must be capable of state management, and must have templates, form processing, HTTP connectivity, validation, and other features. However, the next point will demonstrate how crucial it is to use such features.

1. Popularity:

While selecting a framework for your project, you must consider its popularity first. You must use a well-known framework while working on a long-term project. Why? So that there is help ready for you through its community.

Furthermore, if your web developers abandon your project in the midst for whatever reason, and the framework is well-known, you may immediately discover replacement web developers who are familiar with that framework technology.

Also, assume your developers do not desert you, but as your project grows, you will require additional frontend developers. You can simply employ frontend devs for your project if you choose a popular one.

1. Usability:

Before you begin frontend development, you should evaluate the usability of the frontend framework you've chosen. You can't be confident of something unless you get near to that framework's essential traits, possibilities, and weaknesses.

Regardless of how much you research or study the framework and its documentation, you will not be 100 percent confident in it unless you put it to the test.

Examine the framework's supported CLIs, libraries, and plugins. Use them to try out new ideas in smaller projects. This time, you had to get your hands filthy by participating in the framework. Before you begin web programming, familiarise yourself with the IDE and typescript, and test out all of the framework's features.

1. Ease of integration:

Regardless of how feature-rich your framework is, you may need to supplement your project with other tools and libraries. In this situation, having a flexible framework is critical for successful integration.

DOM manipulation, formatting time, data processing, and rich-text editing are all covered by several libraries. Because you wish to include all of this capability into your project, your framework must be able to handle complex integration procedures.

1. Mobile development support:

The majority of your visitors access your website via a mobile device. In any case, mobile development is critical in this day and age. So choose a frontend framework that makes mobile app development simple and flexible for your company.

To succeed in a fiercely competitive digital market, businesses with existing mobile apps and those intending to develop new ones need to conduct extensive research, develop thorough strategies, and analyse the current mobile environment.

The wide range of channels and devices make it difficult to achieve the maximum levels of user engagement with native apps. The solution is to employ frameworks for mobile app development to construct an expensive cross-platform, hybrid, or web-based mobile app for businesses.

1. Rendering on the server:

The majority of your clients will be on their phones. As a result, server-side rendering is unavoidable. If your website is driven by content, your frontend framework must enable server-side rendering; otherwise, your consumers would leave due to low search engine rankings.

1. Support in the future:

Digital web presence is going to be more important than ever before. As a result, be certain that the frontend framework you chose has a strong future potential in terms of support, maintenance, community, and subsequent versions with updates.

1. Flexibility:

You should think about using a customizable frontend framework for your forthcoming web project so that you may customize it to your liking. Keep an eye out for component sway and other features you want in your project.

You are now aware of all the criteria. Let's have a look at the most popular libraries and frontend frameworks that you should choose for your next software development project.

What are the 5 best frontend frameworks in 2024?

Based on factors such as awareness, company size, overall happiness, curiosity, simplicity of use, and so on, this section discusses the most in-demand front-end frameworks and libraries for the year 2024.

1. React ( Best used for mobile app development)

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, however, it's more commonly referred to as a frontend framework. Jordan Walke, a Facebook engineer, designed React in 2011. Launched in 2013, React’s open-source framework quickly gained immense popularity.

React is being used by frontend development teams at companies like PayPal, Netflix, Walmart, Tesla, and others, demonstrating the tool's excellent quality and dependability. JavaScript and declarative code are used by React developers. They may utilize HTML to update the DOM (Document Object Model) and construct a Virtual DOM using a unique JSX feature, which improves speed.

React has reusable components framed in a tree-like structure and one-way data binding, which implies that data is only passed one way – from component to view.

What are React's key features?

A virtual Document Object Model (DOM) with one-way data binding is a core component of React. React is acclaimed for its exceptional speed and is regarded as one of the easiest frameworks to learn because of its virtual DOM functionality: its user-friendliness and smooth learning curve make it a fantastic choice for beginners or less experienced developers. And, that is the main reason why React developer jobs are popular.

Because React is a library, it lacks several key functions that other frameworks have. That's why React is designed to function with other frameworks for state management, routing, and API interaction.

Benefits of using React:

• Facebook's support
• Virtual DOM is often updated, allowing for high-speed document operations. It may be integrated with a variety of other JS frameworks.
• Allows for the creation of components without the need of classes.
• Migration between multiple versions is simple.
• Code components that can be reused
• Beginners will enjoy it.

Why use react native?

• Your frontend UI needs high user interaction
• Your code has grown complicated
• Your application has lagging and unresponsiveness pages

Drawbacks of using React:

• A lack of well-thought-out documentation
• Learning JSX syntax is difficult

1. Angular (Best used for web application development especially single page applications (SPA))

In 2010, Google released Angular, a strong open-source frontend development framework. Angular is on almost every list of prominent frontend frameworks. This isn't surprising, given that this Angular framework has a lot of helpful functional features including directives, filters, two-way data binding, dependencies, and more.

Angular is used by large corporations like BMW and Forbes, demonstrating the framework's excellent quality. And, the quality increases the scope of Angular developer job opportunities.

What are Angular’s key features?

AngularJS (launched in 2016) is a more powerful version of AngularJS, with enhanced performance and a slew of new capabilities. Angular uses two-way data binding to enable quick synchronization between the model and the view. This means that any change in the view will be reflected in the model immediately, and vice versa.

Angular includes directives, which allow developers to define specific DOM behaviors, allowing for the creation of rich and dynamic HTML content. The Hierarchical dependency injection method in Angular allows to specify code dependencies as external elements, detaching components from their dependents, making code components more testable, reusable, and easy to govern.

The benefits of using Angular

• Architecture based on components
• Data binding in both directions
• Features like directives and dependency injection
• Highly tested, reusable and manageable applications.
• Improved Server performance.
• Strong community, excellent training resources, and so on.
• Google's support

Why use Angular JS?

• When you have only a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
• You need a rich variety of tools
• Want to perform minimal coding

Drawbacks of using Angular

• Beginners will find it difficult, while smaller groups will find it overwhelming.
• SEO skills are limited.
• Code that is bloated and big in size

1. jQuery(Best used for simple and quick Ajax-based applications)

JQuery is a frontend development framework that has been around for a long time. jQuery is a library in the strictest sense of the word (just like React). However, it does fulfill the definition of a framework to some extent, and many frontend software professionals use it as such. Despite the fact that JQuery was first introduced in 2006, it is still one of the most widely used technologies, keeping up with more recent competition.

By manipulating CSS and DOM components, managing events, animations, AJAX, and other tasks, programmers utilize the jQuery framework to improve the interactivity of user interfaces. According to reports, jQuery is used in the products of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Slack. Doesn’t that highlight the scope jQuery developer job opportunities?

What are jQuery’s key features?

One of the apparent reasons for jQuery's long-term popularity is its minimalistic approach to JavaScript code. Certain user behaviors, such as a mouse click or a keyboard keystroke, are condensed down to little pieces of code that are easy to manage and incorporate into any random spot of your application's JS logic thanks to jQuery's versatility in event handling.

jQuery Mobile, the original framework's HTML5-based UI system, allows developing native mobile applications, despite the fact that it wasn't initially built to do so. Because jQuery excels at handling browser interchangeability, frontend developers don't have to be concerned about all possible cross-browser concerns.

The benefits of using jQuery

• Beginner-friendly
• Ease of use
• All main web browsers are supported.
• There are a lot of plugins to choose from.
• It comes with a well-developed and robust community.
• Multiple DOM modification tools are available.
• SEO-optimized

Why use JQuery?

• Simple code
• When your application needs to go live in the major browsers as it covers major issues
• You need a library that can be easily optimized for SEO
• Reduced page load times

Drawbacks of using jQuery

• It's a single JS file that contains all of the DOM, events, effects, and AJAX components.
• Apps built using it are deemed archaic since they are slower than native DOM APIs.
• Because of more functional web browsers, it is seen to be losing ground.
• There isn't a data layer.

1. Ember (Best used for single page applications that include native-like web apps, and progressive web apps )

Ember.js is a powerful, tried-and-true JavaScript framework for creating contemporary online apps. It comes with everything you'll need to create sophisticated user interfaces that operate on any device.

In terms of component-based functionality and two-way data binding, Ember is similar to Angular. It was created in 2011 to meet the ever-increasing needs of modern technology. Ember may be used to create a variety of online and mobile apps, and its excellent design will address all of your issues.

Despite being fresh and unknown, the development community is insignificant. Because of its traditional and inflexible structure, the framework is a difficult web UI framework.

What are Ember’s key features?

Ember supports two-way data binding, which allows the view and model to be synchronized in real-time. It's notable for its lightning-fast server-side rendering: The Fastboot.js plugin enhances the speed of complicated UIs by rendering DOM on the server-side.

Ember has a vast ecosystem, and sophisticated template use helps developers to decrease coding time. It comes with a lot of sophisticated features and components right out of the box, including its own routing and testing tools, but if you need more, the community maintains a lot of plugins and other useful things.

Ember's community, by the way, appears to be one of the most engaged, active, and well-organized out there. Ember, according to some reports, may be deficient in flexibility because of the stringent and particular procedures that you must adhere to while utilizing it for projects in Ember developer job roles.

The benefits of using Ember

• Rendering at the server level
• Documentation that is consistent
• Tools for native testing and debugging
• Widget-based component approach
• URL-focused approach to two-way data binding
• Community that is well-organized
• JavaScript and TypeScript are supported.

Why use Ember?

• Best practices built within the framework
• Powerful add-ons to support your need
• To increase developer productivity

Drawbacks of using Ember

• For novices, it's a little difficult.
• Not recommended for minor projects.
• Heavyweight lacks the ability to reuse components.
• There is little or no customization available.

1. Backbone.js (Best used for single-page applications)

Created in 2010 by Jeremy Ashkenas, Backbone.JS is a free, open-source JavaScript library. It aids with the building of client-side web apps and provides a RESTful JSON interface. Using an efficient API and declarative event handling, structuring web programmes with models becomes simple for key-value binding and custom events and collections.

It's free to use thanks to the MIT software license. Backbone.JS has been utilized in the development of 600,000 websites, according to 7% of frontend developers who have had a favorable experience with it (some sources tell us about 180k live websites with about 11 percent from the top million sites.). Isn’t that positive about Backbone.js developer job opportunities?

What are Backbone.js’ key features?

Backbone.js enables you to transform your data into models, DOM manipulation into views, and connect them together via events, as described in the MVC/MVP development paradigm. To put it another way, it represents your data as models that can be generated, validated, removed, and stored to the server.

These models support key-value binding and custom events: when a user makes a change to a model's attribute, the model generates a change event. The modification may be propagated to any views that represent the model's current state, allowing them to respond and re-render themselves with the updated data.

You don't need to create a special code (glue code) to search the DOM for items with certain IDs and manually update the HTML since when the model is modified, the views are updated as well. Backbone.js provides a robust API of enumerable methods for creating client-side web apps, declarative event handling for views, and a RESTful JSON interface to link it all to your current API.

The benefits of using Backbone.js

• Extensible: more than 100 extensions are available.
• Fewer HTTP beginner-friendly requests
• When minified and compressed, the file is roughly 7.6kb in size.
• In-depth tutorials that are well-organized
• Instead of keeping data in the DOM, it is stored in models.

Why use Backbone.js?

• Offers free and open source library
• When you want to reduce the complexity of the UI design
• You want to create client-side web/mobile applications in an organized way

Drawbacks of using Backbone.js

• Two-way data binding isn't supported.
• At times, the architecture is ambiguous.
• You'll have to write extra code (for example, more boilerplate code)
• Many developers fear it is slowly becoming outdated.

##Conclusion:
In conclusion of the above, all frontend development frameworks have their own set of benefits and drawbacks. If one framework is the best fit for a project, another, although being a fantastic tool, may be completely wrong. As a result, you should carefully analyze your project requirements before beginning development and pick the framework that is most suited to your needs.

Build projects to learn more about the frameworks listed above. Apart from the five frameworks discussed above, there are several additional essential and helpful frameworks that you will get acquainted with as you begin working on projects. What an ambitious developer needs to do is learn by doing!! Because there are so many frontend frameworks to pick from, you may be unsure which one to choose. In all circumstances, it is advisable to first examine the issue statement and then select the appropriate framework for your project.

So, hiring managers will check your knowledge about all these before they hire remote front-end developers to their team. You are good to go, right?