Almost every modern website or web application you visit today includes JavaScript to add interactivity. For example, to make photo sequences navigable or to validate emails on the ‘client-side’. But what exactly is JavaScript and what is it used for?
JavaScript is basically an interpreted script/programming language that is run in the browser. It allows for more than just a static page to be displayed without any interaction. JavaScript is very diverse and can be used for different functionalities. Some examples of what JavaScript can be used for are instant form validations, a photo carousel or to make hidden content visible. Also, the cropping of menus or the interaction with a button can be realized through JavaScript.
One of the big challenges of JavaScript development is the fact that it is interpreted by a web browser. There are many different web browsers available and they can interpret JavaScript differently. As a result, the web page can behave differently in one browser compared to another browser. The use of JavaScript frameworks solves this problem. They contain JavaScript code that takes the different browsers into account. Thus, the same code can be interpreted properly by all kinds of different web browsers. Another advantage of using a JavaScript framework is that a lot of complex code is already available. This allows the development team to focus on the most important code for the development project of our customers.
JavaScript forms one of the core technologies at Ibuildings alongside PHP.
We deploy various JavaScript frameworks and libraries within our development projects. The starting point is always that we use the right tool for the right task.
For several single page applications (SPAS) we use the React framework. React is a frontend framework that was initially created for Facebook and dates back to 2013. Since then it has been continuously developed and improved.
The main advantage of React is that it is completely focused on building the user interface of an application and the user interaction with it. As a result, several reusable components have been developed. It is also possible to make the pages server side responsive, which ensures faster load times. Because of its fast loading times and focus on user interaction, React is a framework that is used to stimulate a positive user experience.
The Vue framework also uses several components that are reusable. Vue can be used well for a single page application in combination with the Nuxt.js library, which is server side rendered.
Vue dates back to 2014 and also continues to be developed and improved. The advantage of the Vue frontend framework is that a frontend developer can (learn) to use this framework faster, but it offers slightly less flexibility compared to the React framework.
For both frameworks, there is a large community behind them that has created many components and libraries and continues to extend this functionality. The above frameworks can both be used for the development of Single Page Applications.
This also opens the door to develop a Progressive Web App (PWA) for your page. This means that the web page on a mobile can behave like a normal mobile application. With Progressive Web App it is for example possible to make (parts of) your website available offline.