While there are simple ways to build a website, web and application development remains one of the most important success factors for any business, regardless of its market value. Individuals looking to establish a solid online presence are in the same boat, always looking for creative ways to impress their visitors.
That’s where web frameworks come in.
Frameworks are the key for programmers to cope with the rapid evolution of web development. But what exactly are they? And which web solution is right for your needs?
In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into frameworks, their benefits and shine the light on the best web frameworks on the market today.
What Is a Web Framework?
Web frameworks are ready-made code segments that allow developers or coders to quickly integrate web and app elements on a website. Frameworks can be written in a variety of programming languages and approaches.
Suppose you’re in the kitchen, cooking pancakes. You want to turn them over, but you aren’t sure how. You can either invent a utensil or use one that’s already on hand, like a turner or a spatula. Similarly, web frameworks are robust tools to assist programmers by providing a defined set of development and design rules that can be directly implemented and customized for a website.
Such solutions support functions, security measures, menus, and forms, helping devs to shift their focus on creating their distinctive designs.
There are two types of web frameworks – backend and frontend.
- Backend framework: This type of framework deals with the server-side, architecture, and database operations of the website. It relies on programming languages such as PHP, Java, Ruby, Python, etc.
- Frontend framework: As the name implies, frontend frameworks handle the visual side of your website or application with which users engage. These frameworks take care of the graphical interface, themes, SEO management, and more. They also utilize languages like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
Advantages of Web Frameworks
Even though frameworks may limit a web developer’s scope of creativity, they are widely favored for large and complex projects because of their task simplification.
Here are the top three benefits of using web frameworks.
Efficiency and Ease of Use
Web frameworks save a substantial amount of time by providing pre-configured guidelines and templates. As a result, they aid in the web development process (e.g., text storage, session management authentication, URL mapping, etc.) by significantly reducing the effort required for software engineers to write laborious lines of code from the ground up.
In addition, every framework is backed by a community of experts that assist in resolving issues and offering helpful tips. Thanks to their unified structure, framework-based solutions are extremely easy to debug and maintain. This allows programmers to add features and make modifications without difficulties.
Security and Reliability
As mentioned, framework products are created and supported by a group of skilled professionals. This means that they have been thoroughly tested for common errors. Plus, they come with integrated security features and tools to combat cyberthreats, like SQL injections and web fraud. Accordingly, devs no longer need to take screenshots to safeguard their websites or apps.
Performance
One of the advantages of using frameworks is optimizing resources to ensure better performance. This makes them valuable assets in large ecommerce projects. Take caching for instance – it consumes time to set up, but frameworks include cache capabilities to improve the loading speed.
Best 10 Web Frameworks of 2023
On the market today, there are a plethora of web development solutions to choose from. After careful research and testing, we’ve narrowed them down to this list of the top 10 frameworks to use in 2023.
React
React, or React.js, is a frontend library for Javascript. Even though it’s not a dedicated web development framework per se, it’s so prevalent that it had to be mentioned. It was created by Facebook and is mostly suitable for single-page applications and other web tools.
One of React’s main advantages is its ability to scale and maintain optimal performance, regardless of the size of the application or its popularity. The purpose of React.js is to embed reactive data into the application. This allows it to check for changes in the displayed data and apply them without refreshing the page.
Angular
Angular was developed by tech giant Google and is a frontend web development framework. Among the large names that utilize the platform today are Microsoft and PayPal.
Angular is written in Javascript and the most recent update ports the framework into TypeScript. This makes it much more flexible for various platforms and devices.
A notable advantage of Angular is its ability to make single-page applications adhere to model-view-controller (MVC) specifications. Its only downside is that its learning curve can be steep and the code can sometimes be bulky to compile.
Vue
Similar to React and Angular, Vue is a Javascript-based web framework. But it was created by independent developers with focus on creating progressive UIs for web applications. Popular companies that rely on Vue include Nintendo, Adobe, Gitlab, Grammarly, Upwork, and BMW.
If you’re new to frameworks, Vue is easy to learn and use. Its components separate HTML, CSS, and JS. A command-line interface (CLI) is also available for a smooth app development process.
Unfortunately, Vue doesn’t integrate so well with other platforms, since it’s not yet supported by Google, Facebook, or Amazon.
Laravel
Laravel is a free, open-source PHP backend framework. Thanks to its wide popularity, there is a wide range of tools and resources available. It’s also known to be scalable, secure, and easy to learn, making it a worthy competitor to the bigger names on this list.
Like Angular, Laravel conforms to MVC architecture, which makes it easy and convenient to develop and launch apps and websites.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails (also known as RoR or Rails) is one of the most popular backend development frameworks. Like Lavarel, RoR is an open-source and completely free to use solution. It is written in the Ruby programming language and based on the MVC model.
RoR was invented more than 15 years ago and, to this day, is a reliable tool for developing complex web applications. Ruby on Rails has a large online community, which is quite friendly and helpful.
Among the many well-known websites that use RoR are Twitter, Shopify, Airbnb, and GitHub.
Django
Django is written in Python and is another backend development framework. It is built and maintained by a large community of experienced web developers. The framework is highly customizable and delivers reliable performance.
One of Django’s top priorities is cybersecurity, which makes it a safe option to use when developing mission-critical apps and websites. It offers a robust template system, easy database migration, and built-in RSS and Atom feeds.
Some of the popular enterprises that rely on Django are Disqus, Mozilla, Pinterest, and Instagram.
ASP.net
Released by Microsoft back in 2002, ASP.net is an open-source, server-side web framework. Compared to the rest of the solutions on this list, ASP.net isn’t as popular, but definitely the go-to solution for most Windows developers.
ASP.net’s architecture requires less coding and maintenance skills than its competitors. It offers great support for cloud-based and IoT app development.
Express
Express.js is a backend framework that’s popular among large enterprises mostly due to its flexibility and minimalistic feel.
Express.js is an open-source framework for the Node.js environment. This means there are tons of add-ons and resources available and ready to be installed with a single NPM install command.
Additionally, there are a lot of debugging tools that make coding for Express much more enjoyable.
Written in Javascript, Expres.js offers features for developing web applications, APIs, and mobile solutions. It is also compatible with several other third-party frameworks.
Ember
Ember is an open-source framework that helps you build modern user interfaces for web solutions in addition to mobile and desktop apps. One of its most notable features is the testing program, which is generated by default for each new entity.
With Ember, you can benefit from a large, and continuously-growing community of talented developers who frequently release new features and make constant improvements to the platform.
Spring
Spring is another open-source backend framework that is written in JavaScript. It’s very lightweight in terms of functionality and size and mostly used for developing powerful enterprise-level applications.
Similar to Ember, Spring has a large community of active developers that regularly help in the improvement of the platform and are always happy to offer any support when necessary.
Conclusion
Website development is a lengthy process that demands meticulous preparation and execution. Fortunately, web frameworks can cut through such complications to improve the web development speed and quality.
To choose the right framework from the above list, you should carefully analyze your requirements and specific business needs.