TOP JS libraries for business web apps

In this article, we will consider the best UI libraries for creating and developing business applications. To begin with, let us answer three key questions:

Why do I need the UI library?

This is the age-old dispute of declarative vs imperative programming. At this link, you can find the opinion and practice of our expert. In any case, modern programming needs to be standardized for the following reasons:

• Reducing time for the development

The survival of startups depends on the speed of market entry. High competition dictates higher rates of business activity. Therefore, the terms of IT project implementation have become critical.

• Reducing the costs of the project

Avalanche-like growth in the number of projects that need investors leads to competition. Investors choose reasonable business plans that involve small financial risks. Therefore, the total cost of the project directly affects its viability.

• Stabilization of quality while reducing the costs of testing

When you reduce costs and the development time, you should get ready for the quality loss of the products (so-called "triple limitation"). Those developers who can maximize the stability of quality in such conditions get a significant competitive advantage.

Therefore, realities push the business on the rails of a declarative approach because it claims to answer the questions raised. For instance, using component libraries can solve some of the problems of the UI layer development. The use of ready-made UI components, in theory, gives a gain in development speed, can lead to savings (including by attracting less qualified resources), and should ensure sustainable quality.

Why JavaScript?

Indeed, most UI libraries are JavaScript solutions. This is due to the total dominance of web technologies. Almost all new solutions and applications have a browser-based nature. Modern browsers have become multifunctional processors, a kind of high-level code interpreters. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to develop a browser-based business application that will work equally well on any device, then to create a series of optimized desktop, mobile or tablet applications. For these reasons, JS has become the most popular programming language on the planet.

What are the peculiarities of business applications?

Business applications are an exceptionally large class of software solutions. It covers all possible domain industries. But despite all the variety of solutions, they all operate with a limited set of business functions. Practice shows that almost any business application can be implemented using several dozens of modules. Even with all the variety of solutions (medical, banking, trading, manufacturing, educational), possible business functions fit into a line of 100 business modules and widgets. This is an excellent data source for unifying the development process.

At the same time, customers of business applications put forward the same requirements, which we listed at the beginning of the article (time-cost-quality). This was another factor in the direction of unification and made it easier for many UI libraries to reach the market.

Business application UI library №1: Webix JS Library

This is one of the most functional and high-performance libraries. Detailed overview of this JavaScript library you can find in this article. We put this library in the first place because Webix deals exclusively with business applications. This library is like a universal Swiss knife, which can do almost anything. Webix contains 100 + UI widgets that you can use to build absolutely any business application. At the time of writing, the Webix set included 8 high-level widgets, or SAP applications:File Manager,Document Manager , User Manager, Chat-Messenger, Task Manager (Kanban),Pivot, Spreadsheet, SQL Query. Two new complex widgets are announced in the development roadmap for the second half of 2020 (these will be Scheduler and Report Builder).

Reviews of this library say that it is a simple and elegant framework that facilitates the process of prototyping and developing the UI layer of the application as much as possible.

Among the disadvantages, there is a lack of compatibility of complex widgets with small screen devices.

Business application UI library №2: Vaadin

This is a full-featured Java-based framework that allows you to develop multi-platform solutions. Its main feature is the Java-based UI library. This is a remarkably interesting approach that allows developers to fully create back-end and front-end in Java. Undoubtedly this framework will require developers to be more highly qualified and impose some restrictions on the system platform. But the elegant implementation of the UI library allows Java developers to create a UI layer themselves without involving front-end developers. This is a valuable competitive advantage. Therefore, if your project uses Java as the system core, be sure to pay attention to this solution.

Business application UI library №3: Ext JS

A couple of years ago, we would have put this product in the first place. This project has earned the respect of a huge number of developers. There was a period when Sencha Ext JS completely dominated the UI library market. Today, the position of this product is not so strong. Reviews indicate excessive complexity and noticeable performance problems. But if there are mature Ext JS developers in your team, then you can safely start your project. Excellent documentation, many programming samples, and a functional UI library will help you. A great advantage of this solution is the specialized packages for integration with Angular and React frameworks.

Business application UI library №4: React

Even though this is one of the most popular JS frameworks, we put it only in the 4th place. React is a great environment for creating any business applications. But the UI library that is part of it cannot boast such a large set of business functions that are offered by specialized libraries like Webix or Ext JS. Therefore, a reasonable strategy would be to use React as a basic framework and integrate it with one of the specialized libraries, which will significantly save time on developing the necessary business functions.

Business application UI library №5: jQuery

It is one of the oldest and probably the most popular UI libraries. Many UI products were formed on its basis; besides, it gave rise to a whole class of JavaScript libraries. JQuery was popular when the Angular and React frameworks that dominate today had not existed yet. With the release of HTML5 JQuery UI made it possible to solve many UI cases. Today, the project is experiencing a downturn. There are no latest updates and new widgets.

Nowadays the jQuery UI code seems unhandy if to compare it with new and elegant frameworks and libraries. With the release of the HTML5 standard, many jQuery UI features have become unnecessary, since they are now natively supported by modern browsers "out of the box". Nevertheless, the library has deserved recognition. It stays a great tool for practicing and rapid prototyping. Some unique controls of this library are still in demand among developers today.

Conclusion

Time is money today more than ever before. UI libraries are designed to assist developers in creating business applications faster, easier, and cheaper. The choice of the libraries is quite wide, ranging from mature yet unhandy solutions to newer and more convenient ones. According to our overview, Webix appears to be the most promising and rapidly developing UI library at the market that can help your project deal with business application tasks. Yet the final decision is always made depending on the specific requirements of each project.