Front-end frameworks: What is important right now?

Front-end frameworks determine the logic, structure, design, behavior, and animation of every element you see on-screen when you interact with websites, web applications, and mobile apps.

For instance, buying something online today is a different experience than 10—15 years ago. In the past you would be sent to different confirmation pages during the process, while today the emphasis is on a better user experience.

Now smooth transitions characterize the various stages of the buying process, and you get a more app-like feeling, with more actions happening on the same page.

The front-end framework is a vital piece of your digital experiences, and should not be left to the mercy of mere chance. That’s why we have compiled a short and essential summary of what factors are most important now and in the near future.

Selecting the right front-end framework

If you have browsed through several front-end frameworks already, you might be confused about exactly what framework you should choose, or what features you should prioritize in the first place.

As a remedy, here is a quick reference to what is most important when contemplating on selecting a framework that is right for you, your team, and your organization:

Learning curve

Your preferred front-end framework should not have a very steep learning curve, as this can not only put you off—it can demoralize any co-workers in your organization that also must work with it. Be sure to pick something familiar to you and your colleagues, or something developer-friendly—i.e. a programming language that is loved by developers.

Built-in toolbox

A great way to kickstart your developers in a new front-end framework is the presence of a built-in toolbox. A toolbox may include a build server, web server, asset caching, etc., enabling your developers to get started fast.

Documentation

Imagine being tasked with baking a complex cake, but not being provided with the recipe. Or being given the task to maintain a hydroelectric dam, but without getting your hands on the operating manual!

The same principle goes for a front-end framework. Having access to good documentation is important to give your developers an overview, a reference guide, a troubleshooter guide, best practice examples, or information on any technical detail they may wonder about.

Tutorials

Just like having access to comprehensive documentation, the availability of tutorials is a must for getting your developers up to speed. Even though your developers are knowledgeable, they might still get tips to smart operations and methods within the front-end framework through a well-executed tutorial.

Community

Finally, the front-end framework should be well embraced by an engaged community who can help out should you have any questions. Make sure you check the availability and the activity of the front-end framework community in advance.

Popular front-end frameworks

What are the most popular and promising front-end frameworks of 2022 and beyond? Here is a list of some of our favorite frameworks in no particular order:

Next.js: Open-source web development framework built on top of Node.js, enabling React-based web applications functionalities such as server-side rendering and generating static websites.

Nuxt.js: A free and open source JavaScript library based on Vue.js, Node.js, Webpack and Babel.js, it enables developers to build server-side rendered applications where a Node.js server delivers HTML to the client based on Vue components, rather than running JavaScript on the client-side.

SvelteKit: A full stack framework where the page is rendered server-side on your first visit, but subsequent pages are rendered client-side.

React: A JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. React can be used as a base in the development of single-page or mobile applications.

Angular: Platform for building mobile and desktop web applications. Angular is a TypeScript-based open-source full-stack web application framework led by the Angular Team at Google and by a community of individuals and corporations.

Vue: Open-source JavaScript framework for building user interfaces and single-page applications.

Ionic: Open-source software development kit for hybrid mobile app development. Ionic allows you to build cross platform mobile, web, and desktop apps with one shared code base and open web standards.

The golden child: JavaScript

Modern front-end frameworks mostly rely on three core technologies: HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript (JS). Not surprisingly, JavaScript frameworks thus have the most traction today and in the foreseeable future. Among these we find the usual suspects—the already mentioned Next.js, Nuxt, React, Angular, and Vue.js, as well as Ionic.

The trend right now is to run a JavaScript framework in both the front-end and the back-end. This way you can deliver rendered markup from the server and hand it over to the client—which means better user experience with smoother transitions and faster loading.

Pro tip: Use TypeScript to strengthen your front-end

If you are looking for tools to make your front-end more robust, use TypeScript. This is an open-source, strict syntactical superset of JavaScript, and adds optional static typing to the language, giving the ability to define classes, interfaces, and modules as known from languages like C# and Java.

With TypeScript it is easier to refactor without errors and easier to test—especially for larger projects.

Don’t miss: Why we are building our new website with Next.js and headless CMS »

Other frameworks

There are other types of front-end frameworks in addition to the mentioned ones which are based on JavaScript. In this category you can find Bootstrap, Semantic-UI, Foundation, Materialize, Material UI, and more. KeyCDN has compiled a list of top 10 front-end frameworks, giving descriptions, pros, and cons.

The differences between these frameworks and the JavaScript frameworks are illustrated in this simple comparison:

Framework type	Features
JavaScript	Coding frameworks, can be used for single-page apps, functionality, low-level (harder, digging deeper, demanding more logic)
HTML/CSS	Markup, for more traditional websites, templating, high-level (easier). Can be run together with JS frameworks

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In essence, one of the most important things to know about front-end frameworks today and in the immediate future is that JavaScript frameworks continue to grow in popularity—especially Next.js. Assessing crucial factors like learning curve, built-in toolbox, good documentation, and an active community is also important, as well as considering helpful tools like TypeScript. Also make sure to understand the difference between frameworks based on JS versus HTML/CSS.

First published 14 August 2019, updated 11 November 2022.