Contact us anytime to know more — Abhishek P., Founder & CFO CISIN
There are various web development frameworks on the market. Each can help develop either a static website or even SaaS apps.
However, exploring and researching each framework's features before choosing one for your company may prove challenging - to help make things simpler, we have put together our list of top 10 web development frameworks for easier decision-making. Before diving deeper into web frameworks, let's first define what a Web Framework is and its significance.
What is a Web Framework?
Web Development Framework, commonly referred to simply as 'web frame ', is software that efficiently offers tools for developing Web applications - including Web Services, Resources, and APIs.
Web developers using a framework have access to components, code samples, and templates available within it for creating apps on any web-based platform; frameworks offer standard design conventions which can be modified according to individual developer needs; these frameworks automate repetitive development tasks so we can focus more on features rather than configuration details.
Why are frameworks necessary?
- Increases Code Efficiency & Reusability: Web frameworks provide developers with a responsive, fast, and efficient coding environment. Frameworks offer advanced features such as hot and live reloading that result in shorter development cycles.
- Eliminate Complexity: By streamlining the development process, bugs and errors are avoided. It takes care of background tasks such as data binding, configuration, etc.
- Bootstrap development: There are a variety of packages and tools available to developers to jumpstart the process. Frameworks allow programmers to avoid writing scripts all from scratch. Frameworks allow you to explore features even if you are not an expert in web development.
- Reducing Code Length: Frameworks eliminate the need for long lines of code to add standard functionality to your website. Frameworks reduce the time it takes to develop a website by generating code. Predefined codebases allow developers to perform easy modification and bootstrapping.
- Reducing Work-Labor: Frameworks offer developers tools and functions to automate URL mapping, authentication, or caching tasks. This reduces the amount of work.
- Improved Security: Frameworks are equipped with security features and mechanisms that can help protect websites from current and future threats. Frameworks are a great way to safeguard websites from cyberattacks like data manipulation, SQL injections, DDoS attacks, etc. Open-source frameworks can be used to create custom security specs for websites.
- Ease of Debugging and Maintenance: Most Frameworks have built-in debugging and testing capabilities. Your application will be easier to understand and maintain due to the standardization of practices and code reuse. You can maintain and update the app easily with features such as code completion, code testing, simultaneous code editing, and more.
Web Development Frameworks: Types
There are two main categories of web frameworks: those that work on the client side (front end) and those on the server side (back end).
Full-stack Frameworks are frameworks that allow for development at both ends.
- Client-Side Frameworks: The client-side framework deals with the user interface. Frontend is what you can see and the interface that you interact with. The user experience of a website is crucial for any business. Even though complex functions and operations may occur in the backend, users must see and experience a seamless user interface. Frontend frameworks that allow for the creation of user-centric, interactive websites are employed to achieve this.
- Server-Side Frameworks: Frameworks are libraries that contain modules and other tools to assist in the creation of website structure. Backends consist of the database and server and the code that interacts with these. Server-side frameworks ensure that the website runs smoothly behind the scenes. Common web development activities like URL Routing, Database Interaction, User Authentication, Improved Security, Push Notifications, etc. are made easier by these frameworks.
Web Framework Architecture: Overview and Classification
Inversion of Control (IoC) is a principle of programming that allows a framework to take control over certain portions of the program.
Each development framework follows a specific architecture or pattern.
The model-view-controller design is used by the majority of web development framework types, however, there are others:
1. Model-View-Controller
Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, which has three components and is used by the majority of online application frameworks
- Model: the business logic and backend data
- View: The interface components for displaying the data. Uses the Observer Pattern to display and update the model as needed.
- Control: The input is sent here, the model processes the request and then passes it to the view.
Separation of concerns (SoC), a design pattern that uses the MVC, allows developers to focus on separate parts of an application without worrying about interference.
The difference between Push-Based and Pull-Based
The server's actions in relation to view layers are referred to as a "push or pull" architecture. A push-based architectural design is one where the server sends data (push) to render results in the view.
This is the architecture used by most MVC frameworks. Django is an example of a push-based architectural style.
Pull-based architectures "pull" the results of multiple controllers when needed. Pull-based architecture is demonstrated by Lift, Tapestry JBoss Seam, and Wicket.
There are a number of architectures that can push as well as pull, including Play, Struts, and ZK.
2. Model View-View-Model
Model view-view model (MVVM) is composed of the same three components, but it has a data binding that goes both ways between view and view model.
This allows for a more clean separation of the application logic and the user interface:
- Model: the business logic and backend data
- View: The input starts here, and the action requested is displayed here.
- Model-View: Has no relation to the view. Its sole purpose is to manipulate the model and maintain its state as actions change.
It is common to use the MVVM for mobile apps where customization, performance, and personalization are desired.
3. Three-Tier Architecture
The three-tier architecture comprises three layers that have been formalized: the presentation/UI layer, the application logic/functionality layer, and the database layer.
These layers may be deployed and managed independently and each has distinct responsibilities - higher layers may access services from lower ones but not vice versa; this provides high resilience while maximizing service delivery performance.
Frameworks for Web Development
It can be difficult to choose the best web development framework when so many are available.
The top 10 web development frameworks that you need to know, and the unique features they offer.
Front-End Frames
The front-end frameworks of websites are some of the most advanced and innovative aspects of web development and design.
They determine aesthetics, user experience, and visual appeal in web applications. In addition to increasing website traffic, it improves the appearance and functionality of mobile apps and websites.
Take a closer look at some of these.
1. React
React, created by Meta (formerly Facebook), first made its debut in 2013 and quickly rose in popularity since. React is an open-source JavaScript library designed for creating user interfaces and interactive user experiences; thus making React an ideal frontend development solution.
React is a great choice when building single pages or dynamic websites as it makes learning simple while its SEO benefits make developing apps such as Netflix, Instacart, or Flipboard easier to implement with React's server-side rendering capability compared with other frontend frameworks.
Instacart or Flipboard are just three applications that utilize React's server-side rendering technology as they provide better SEO optimization than its competition when building apps using other frameworks compared with React being an easy-learnable SEO-friendly framework used as well.
Features:
- Virtual Document Object Model is a powerful feature that React has. It enhances the functionality of React. Even heavy-load applications can run smoothly with its virtual Document Object Model.
- Components that bundle frontend code.
- Code and data are organized to allow code reuse.
- React Native is a mobile framework that works across all platforms. It has a dominant market share on the Web.
- Information flow in React apps is one-way. React is more efficient because of its one-way data bindings. It makes it less error-prone and simpler to debug.
- React's flexibility allows developers to build applications that adapt dynamically to any interface. React has been used by software engineers to create applications that work on all types of interfaces including desktop, web, mobile, and smart TVs.
2. Angle
Google released AngularJS in 2010. It is an open-source JavaScript Framework. Angular gained popularity with the "Angular 2.0" rewrite, which allows the creation of large JavaScript-based applications that are high performance and scale.
Angular's robust features, as well as its ability to integrate with client-side and cross-platform frameworks, make it possible for Angular apps to run on mobile and web platforms.
Angular encourages code consistency through HTML, CSS, and TypeScript, a superset to JavaScript, in addition to web development tools.
TypeScript is the perfect framework to build enterprise applications. PayPal, Forbes, and UpWork are some of the popular web apps that use AngularJS.
Features:
- By using boilerplate code (code that is repeated with minimal or no changes), Angular can reduce development time.
- The build time is reduced by developers reusing components and in some cases even the architectural design to streamline the development process. It also simplifies testing.
- Improves the application's scalability.
- Using open-source libraries such as Angular Material or AgGrid it is possible to build a dynamic and responsive user interface.
- The Angular Command Line Interface (Command Line Interface), is considered to be one of the most effective command-line interfaces available for creating, maintaining, and scaffolding web applications.
- Angular provides Chrome Dev Tools and Firefox Extensions to debug web apps. The framework also hosts a variety of third-party libraries.
3. Vue JS
Vue JS, another open-source JavaScript Framework capable of creating interactive and stunning user interfaces. Google created Vue JS in 2014.
It was intended to provide a viable alternative to React and Angular when it came to developing SPAs, high-performance progressive web applications, and visually pleasing user interfaces. This is a JavaScript progressive framework that combines React.js's Virtual DOM and Angular.js's View Layer.
Vue JS's simplicity and flexibility have cemented it as one of the best frameworks to build responsive web apps.
The flexible structure of its design and TypeScript compatibility have attracted the attention and interest of many web development firms and enterprises.
Features and Key Functions:
- It improves performance and efficiency in DOM updates. Vue can use it to decide which parts of the DOM should be rerendered, and which need to remain unchanged.
- Vice CLI is a framework that makes web development easier by making prototyping and scaffolding simpler. It also cuts down on the amount of time needed to do the project.
- Vue JS has reactive data binding, meaning that any changes made to the UI will also affect the data.
- This framework can be integrated as a module or library into an application already in existence or you can build your entire application with it. The web development process is more flexible.
- Vue.js comes in a lightweight version, so it is easy to download and install. Vue JS apps are also very quick to load, resulting in a smooth user experience. You can customize your app by incorporating Vue JS into existing code.
4. Ember JS
Ember JS was released late in 2011 and quickly gained prominence among open-source JavaScript Frameworks that utilize MVVM technology.
Ember's core development model relies heavily on HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS to facilitate development.
Ember 2 gained widespread acclaim as it allowed developers to quickly build maintainable, reusable JavaScript applications without breaking a sweat.
Ember was designed specifically to increase developer productivity by eliminating features that waste time or implement best practices directly within its core.
Ember JS is one of the premier frameworks for building single-page apps and dynamic client-side applications, used widely across LinkedIn, Apple DigitalOcean, and Intercom to name just some.
You can make Ember even more versatile through advanced techniques or generalized idioms; mobile development projects may use it too! Ember can even be extended to support desktop app development!
Features
- It is similar to Angular in that it allows the two-way binding of data. The aim is to meet the increasing demand for modern technologies.
- It is compatible with older versions, so they will continue to work perfectly even after a new update.
- The tools are all packaged nicely
- This is a hybrid of Angular React.
- Ember JS provides a complete front-end stack, which includes a service, asset pipeline, and router. Ember.js's router allows you to control URLs.
- Ember.js has a debugging tool, Ember Inspector.
- By using templates, embedded.js updates the model automatically whenever the content in the application changes.
5. JQuery
JQuery, as one of the older players in the market, is still flourishing and being loved by many developers. It was first released in 2006 as an open-source, lightweight JavaScript to assist developers with building robust web applications.
Since then, its features have gained a great deal of attention. This small and fast JavaScript Library simplifies the interaction between HTML code and JavaScript elements.
JQuery makes it easier to use CSS animations and Ajax, making web pages interactive. jQuery adheres to SEO-friendly practices, which is a great advantage.
JQuery is easy to use and doesn't require extensive Javascript code.
Features to Look Out for:
- jQuery makes it easy to navigate DOM elements and change their contents. JQuery's methods such as.attr() and.html() simplify DOM manipulation.
- You can do a lot of things on your site with just one click. For example, start an animation, send data to the server, add a class, etc. It speeds up the binding and unbinding of event handlers.
- JQuery is not complete without plugins. They allow developers to add functionality to a website. On the internet, you can download a number of plugins that enhance jQuery. These include Ajax tools, data grids and XML/XSL, dynamic lists, etc. They make it easy to create web applications.
- This software combines several markup technologies, including JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create animations similar to Flash. It also comes with several animation effects to help AJAX developers create feature-rich, responsive websites.
- Using JQuery's utility functions, it is possible to integrate JavaScript with JQuery seamlessly.
Read More: What are web development services?
The Back End Framework
Backend frameworks are essential for web development. Finding the best framework for developers is crucial to achieving optimal performance and scalability.
You will get maximum performance and flexibility by choosing a framework to run your backend. Here are a few.
6. Ruby on Rails
The most well-known open-source backend web development framework, Ruby on Rails or Rails, is built on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern and encourages the use of various valuable and well-known software engineering patterns and paradigms like CoC (Convention Over Configuration), DRY (Don't repeat yourself), and the active record pattern.
Ruby on Rails, introduced in 2005 as a backend framework for web development, has become the most popular.
This framework allows for the development of high-speed database applications. Ruby on Rails allows you to develop an application ten times quicker than with other Java frameworks.
Features:
- The application facilitates the use of web standards for data transmission (including XML and JSON), as well as JavaScript HTML, and CSS for user interactivity.
- Active record is a robust and powerful library in Ruby on Rails that simplifies the design of database queries.
- RSpec, a simple-to-use unit testing setup that comes with Ruby on Rails is included. You can use it to test all the features of the application. This will allow you to test your application completely.
- Ruby on Rails includes a number of libraries that make it easier to code common tasks, such as form validation and session management.
- This toolkit provides all the essential tools for developers to create a database library of high quality, a product AJAX Library, and a common task library.
- Ruby on Rail is a simple and concise language that looks more like English. It's also flexible. Ruby and other object-oriented languages allow you to create virtual objects in your code.
7. Django
Django is an open-source Python-based framework for back-end development that has gained popularity with developers and businesses.
It makes it easy to create complex web applications, which are highly scalable and data-driven. Python syntax rules allow programmers to write clean and maintainable code, which allows them to create highly-functional web applications.
It is designed by engineers with extensive experience, which makes it perfect for API integrations like naive GraphQL.
This framework can be used in HTML, JSON, and XML formats. YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify are some of the popular Django-based web applications.
Features:
- Django by default preempts security issues and risks such as SQL Injections, Cross-Site Request Forgery, and Cross-Site Scripting.
- Django's code reuse and caching capabilities make it highly scalable. This allows the application to handle any demand for traffic.
- Model-ViewTemplate Architecture is used, and it's built upon Python. This allows robust handling of reactive and asynchronous programming.
- Django allows you to easily create any kind of website: from social networks and news sites to CMSs (content management systems).
- Django apps are SEO-friendly and easy to optimize because they use URLs instead of IP addresses.
8. Laravel
Laravel, the most widely used open-source PHP backend framework created by Taylor Otwell was released in 2011. Laravel comes with built-in support for APIs and a number of useful packages to expand its functionality.
This framework is perfect for building applications that are aimed at small, medium, and large companies.
Laravel, unlike other frameworks, offers an expressive and elegant syntax, allowing developers to express themselves creatively while handling the backend.
Laravel's primary goal is to simplify and make it fun for users to update websites. It is popular amongst developers due to its versatility, features, and execution.
Features:
- Because Laravel follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design, creating and deploying web apps is simple and rapid.
- MVC offers several features, improves performance, increases security, and boosts scalability.
- The framework comes with an object-relational mapping (ORM), which is implemented in PHP Active Record. ORMs allow users to query databases with PHP syntax without writing any SQL code.
- Laravel applications are extremely secure thanks to their salted and hashed passwords. The Bcrypt Hashing Algorithm is used to generate salted passwords. This means the passwords will be stored in encrypted form, and not plaintext, within a database.
- Laravel has lightweight templates that you can use to produce layouts and content. Also, it includes widgets that are easy to customize and have CSS/JS code. The Laravel template is ideal for complex or simple designs with sections.
- Laravel comes with an integrated tool, Artisan. This allows PHP developers to automate repetitive tasks they can't accomplish manually.
9. ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a popular web framework open source that is used for creating dynamic web apps on PCs and smartphones.
Microsoft created ASP.NET to stay up-to-date with web development trends, so programmers can create dynamic websites and applications. In 2016, ASP.NET Core, a new version of ASP.NET, was released. This new version is attracting developers and companies around the globe with its scalability and flexibility.
Since then, it has become incredibly popular for building high-performance, modern, and secure web applications. It is also compatible with JavaScript front-end frameworks.
Features:
- .NET Core applications can work seamlessly with client-side frameworks on a variety of platforms including MacOS Windows and Linux.
- ASP.NET Core supports asynchronous development (async/await), which makes this framework faster and improves app performance.
- ASP.NET Core combines Web API with MVC in order to make the creation of APIs easier and more possible.
- Razor Pages is another important feature of ASP.NET Core which makes it simpler. The feature is designed to allow developers to create server-side rendered applications more quickly.
- JetBrains Rider is a powerful developer tool that combines.NET Code Profiler with Visual Studio Code.
10. Express
Express.js, an open-source lightweight framework, is used to create web apps, mobile apps, and APIs. Since its release, it has become very popular due to its robust capabilities and minimalistic design.
The framework adds the features that make a web app a platform with many other options, such as Node.js.
Express has many features, including routing and debugging. It also allows for fast programming in the backend. Node.js is used to develop Web applications quickly.
Features:
- It can reduce the loading time of a website by reducing the number of times code is executed.
- Express has an advanced routing feature that preserves the state of a page using its URL.
- Express simplifies debugging by providing a technique that pinpoints the exact parts of an app with bugs.
- Express includes several template engines, such as EJS Jade Pug, etc. to make it easy for you to design HTML pages.
- The middleware and HTTP methods can be quickly used to create Node.JS applications and APIs.
- This framework allows you to create hybrid, multi-page, and single-page web applications.
The Conclusion of the Article is:
As web application standards increase, so does the level of technology needed. Frameworks have become a crucial element of web development - providing developers with an efficient means of creating rich and interactive apps.
Over the past years, however, an immense range of frameworks have come onto the scene, which makes choosing one which suits your project's nature all the more essential. Above are ten of the most widely-used web development frameworks to assist your efforts in building an attractive online presence for your business.
Find your application's ideal framework from these popular choices - choose what fits best! These popular frameworks will speed up website development.
Start with one - this way you will gain more clarity into how things operate while seeing that there are numerous similarities across each framework; large companies must always adopt new technologies as part of their continued evolution process - choosing a framework is only part of that journey!
