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The best Javascript UI framework to use in 2023

Kinanee Samson on December 19, 2023

Untill we achieve singularity with AI and all coding is handled with AI there will always be a war for the browser. And we've come to where the rea...
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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

React is not a framework, better to say Next JS which is indeed framework based on React library, you can also mention Astro as its popularity grows

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Its a framework, its just not as opinionated as something like Angular for example. NextJS is comparable to Nuxt, SolidStart, SvelteKit, etc.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

Please take a closer look at the Docs
And this article might make it clearer as well

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Definitely take a look at it, thanks for sharing with us.

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Yes I'm aware of what the react docs say. However, what matters here is the comparison. If you call Vue, Svelte and AngularJS a framework, than React is also a framework. It is used for the same thing. Similarly, a Toyota is just as much a car as a Bentley, even if it comes with less add-ons and luxury nonsense compared to the Bentley. Comparing NextJS to Svelte and Vue is factually wrong. Those frameworks have their own versions of Nextjs, called SvelteKit and Nuxt.

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dikamilo profile image
dikamilo

Not valid argument. React is just view lib, don't event have routing etc. Angular is a full package, MVC oriented with dependency injection.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

You couldn't have said this any better? What difference does it make if it still gets the job done?

All things being equal these frameworks are just different ways to do the same thing.

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Yes I agree Angular is the weird fish in the sea. Show me where svelte and vue have built-in routing.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

Vue has Nuxt) I guess it is like Next for Vue and they should have the same routing out-of-the-box

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Exactly, angular is the weird fish in the sea as per my original comment. If you're comparing frontend frameworks like Vue, svelte and Angular, react is in that list as well. If you're comparing full stack solutions like next, nuxt and SvelteKit, angular doesn't have a similar solution, mostly because a lot of things are baked into the framework, which makes it uninteresting for people to build something similar to next or nuxt for angular I guess.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

I think Angular here is like a whole new world and pretty far from this dev friendly frameworks like Next/Nuxt/Svelte. Angular, in my opinion, for big complex projects, in my exp mostly in banks, I think Angular gives you the least freedom among all the mentioned libraries and frameworks

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

I hate the fact that Angular restricts you so much. The framework just gets into your way.

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Yes that's a commonly used argument. There's something to be said for having a little more strict way of working. React is the opposite and sometimes all the different styles of working can be confusing. This becomes very clear if you see how different the approach is between nextjs and remix, which both use react, but in very different ways. Personally I prefer the flexibility, but it definitely does come with pitfalls.

 
hugaidas profile image
Victoria

Unfortunately, this is necessary, it enforces strict rules to make the app work without any issues, at such organizations like governmental companies or banks, the freedom in creating an app has a huge toll

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oadrian2 profile image
oadrian2

As professional Angular developer, unfortunately I can't agree. In my experience Angular code bases become just as much of a mess as anything else. Because they insist that you do a lot of things their way and in and almost JavaScript-antagonistic way, you end up having to learn a lot of techniques that don't play nicely with other JavaScript-friendly techniques.

JavaScript is not a very strong OO language and for most of Angular's existence it has eschewed functional style programming, which is at the heart of JavaScript. DI is nice in an object-oriented world, but unnecessary in a functional one. React doesn't have a DI system because it doesn't need one in most architectures.

Angular has long felt to me as a framework that tried to hide the language it lived in as much as possible. It has felt like webdev for Java programmers.

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manvendrask profile image
Manvendra Singh

No, React is not a framework. It is only a UI library.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Totally agree with you. React isn't a framework it's a library.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

The distinction doesn't really matter that much as long as you understand the key differences in both frameworks.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

It actually matters, I ask juniors on interviews this question and they usually can't explain the difference between frameworks and libraries. Still, this knowledge is important and can affect your decision when choosing the right tool to work with and create a project.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson • Edited

Yes it's important to know the distinction however this information is only important when you go into very complex project.

If you're just building simple apps then what difference does it make? But React is a Library because it gives you just what you need to do what you want the way you want. A framework will be very opinionated about how you should build and structure your application as is the case with Angular, Stencil and others.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

We are confusing warm and soft here. When u are applying for a job u have to know the difference and be able to explain, when choosing between framework and library, it makes difference, it makes difference if you are building something more complex than just a landing page. Knowing the difference is a piece of basic knowledge, especially when the dev's grade grows.

If you check out the React official website, they recommend using Next JS instead of pure React if you have routing or some data fetching in your app, and knowing the difference and 'whys' can be very important here.

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tsolan profile image
Comment marked as low quality/non-constructive by the community. View Code of Conduct
Eugene

You seriously told that it’s not possible to create complex app in react? First purpose of Next.js is SSR, not better routing or fetching comparing to React.
Now I felt a little sorry for your juniors 🤣

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria • Edited

Kindly asking you not to put the words into my mouth. Please do not make it personal about me, just check out the official React/Next documentation, and probably conduct your research when you have some free time. If you think that there is no difference between Next and React except SSR, just keep working with React

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tsolan profile image
Eugene

Thanks, but I’m better off going with golang and templ)

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

Oho, my respect! I gave this language a shot about a year ago)

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

There's a big difference. NextJS is opinionated and React is not. If you like the way Nextjs does things, you pick Nextjs. If you want to build something custom, you use react and pick and choose what packages and builders you want to use for routing and SSR.

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nermin_karapandzic profile image
Nermin Karapandzic

YEP, I feel like Astro is doing it right, all these other frameworks now trying to be both frontend and backend is not the way IMO.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Absolutely but I did refer to React as a UI library. I just used framework because that's what most people are comfortable with.

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shifi profile image
Shifa Ur Rehman

Same thing with svelte and sveltekit.

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redbar0n profile image
Magne

React is half a framework, really.

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igorfilippov3 profile image
Ihor Filippov

If React is not a framework, so tell me please how can I use it when all my content on the page is rendered with, server written on php, for example?

With jQuery I can cuz it is a library.

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michthebrandofficial profile image
michTheBrandofficial

Is this debate still going on? Like how the hell is react a Library 😂

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria
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michthebrandofficial profile image
michTheBrandofficial

I have already checked it out. That's their latest docs, and they said themselves it's a library .

My bad.

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michthebrandofficial profile image
michTheBrandofficial

What exactly are the differences between a library and a framework.

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hugaidas profile image
Victoria

I find this article very useful

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michaelneely77 profile image
Michael Neely • Edited

Nuxt.js has recently caught my eye as a framework that runs React as a library.

EDIT: My bad, Nuxt extends Vue. I just revisited the docs.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Did you mean Next.js because last time I checked Nuxt.js works with Vue.

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michaelneely77 profile image
Michael Neely

I meant Nuxt but I made a mistake when I said that it ran on React. Oopsies!

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iamspathan profile image
Sohail Pathan • Edited
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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

This is a very important graph where did you get the data do you mind adding a link to the source?

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iamspathan profile image
Sohail Pathan

Done

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haydn13 profile image
Haydn Hunt

I have used a handful of JS frameworks over my time in the web development world. Knockout, ember, angularjs, angular, and reactjs . React isn't by itself a framework but acts as the main kernal of a framework of a devs own Creation. I initially when hearing about react was really skeptical. I thought it was too loose when compared to angularjs and angular, (used to be a angular fan boy). Now that I have used it for a while I enjoy the flexibility and the utility it lends to rapid development.

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Someone that sees things with my eyes. Most times you want the freedom to build your app the way you want instead of being constrained all the time

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valvonvorn profile image
val von vorn

Wow, what an explosion! 🤯💥
At least the poster image looks nice.

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fridaycandours profile image
Friday candour

You didn't mention Cradova it's becoming popular too. github.com/Uiedbook/cradova

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Okay wow. I know Cordova has been around for a while but I thought nobody uses it anymore.

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yogini16 profile image
yogini16

Thanks for sharing!!

React is a free and open-source front-end JavaScript library for building user interfaces based on components. It's not a framework.

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c4miloarriagada profile image
Camilo Arriagada Vallejos

i love solid js ❤️

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andyb1979 profile image
Andrew Bt

100% React, it’s still the market leader and most popular

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kalashin1 profile image
Kinanee Samson

Agree with you on this one. React all the way.

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paulgordon profile image
Paul Gordon

My money is on Vanilla JS eventually becoming dominant. For anyone looking to exit the web framework rat-race, you might want to take a look at the up-and-coming RawJS: github.com/squaresapp/rawjs

(I'm the author of this... we're growing, I just did a talk on it at TorontoJS!)

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grenmath profile image
Mathieu Grenier

I would change the title of post. Its not JS UI ! They are Frontend frameworks
JS UI is lile Angular Material, Bootstrap, Tailwind..
2 differents things

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matek075 profile image
Matek

Hurry up the year 2023 is ending :-)

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rhrebecek profile image
Radek Hřebeček

I agree that React is a really cool tool that opens a lot of doors. The only thing more useful for developers is for everyone to write the same or similar code and be on the same page.