Popular JavaScript Libraries you should know
Getting started with web development can sometimes be too overwhelming for someone new to the languages and frameworks. Huge options and a variety of languages, Frameworks, libraries, and STACKs are available as options. Each with its pros and cons, each with its popularity and crowd support. So with all the options available, the whole process can be confusing!
Whichever STACK you use if you are a web developer or you aspire to become one day, JavaScript is a must. Web development without JavaScript is like pizza without cheese or a burger without fries! Now if you are new to JavaScript, I know someone can find it a hard nut to crack. But trust me, only the first steps are effortful, once you get the flow everything is a smooth sail.
So to ease your process in the world of web development and to make your work so much easier, here is the curated list of few JavaScript libraries that can do all the heavy lifting for you and you can get as creative as you can be. with the help of these libraries, the only limit is your imagination!
Anime.js
Anime.js is a lightweight JavaScript animation library with a simple, yet powerful API. It works with CSS properties, SVG, DOM attributes, and JavaScript Objects. It is one of the simple JavaScript libraries that focus on one specific function. The library is lightweight and very easy to use for creating animations. You can use it to create animations on the web. Anime.js works with anything web. CSS, SVG, DOM attributes, and JavaScript Objects: animate everything with a single unified API. The only library you will ever need to add animations to your website.
Chart.js
Chart.js is a free open-source JavaScript library for data visualization. It is a lightweight framework for designing charts based on provided data. It supports 8 chart types: bar, line, area, pie, bubble, radar, polar, and scatter. Created by London-based web developerNick Downie in 2013, now it is maintained by the community and is the second most popular JS charting library on GitHub by the number of stars after D3.js, considered significantly easier to use though less customizable than the latter. The library has some animation capabilities, to make your data and charts more visually appealing and fun to the users.Chart.js renders in HTML5 canvas and is widely covered as one of the best data visualization libraries.
Video.js
Video.js is a web video player built from the ground up for an HTML5 world. It supports HTML5 video and modern streaming formats, as well as YouTube, Vimeo, and even Flash (through plugins, more on that later). It plays anything from traditional formats like MP4 to supporting adaptive streaming formats such as HLS and DASH. In recent updates, it even supports Live Streams! The player looks already very good. Plus it is easy to style and can be styled with an extra addition of custom CSS. Due to such widespread use and a large community, there are 100s of plugins available to add functionality and skins with proper documentation and support. And the video playback is supported on a various variety of devices ranging from Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, and all other mobile devices.
Three.js
Three.js is a cross-browser JavaScript library and application programming interface (API) used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser. Three.js uses WebGL rather than conventional browser-plugins. The source code is hosted in a repository on GitHub. Three.js allows the creation of GPU-accelerated 3D animations using the JavaScript language as part of a website without relying on the browser plugins. This is possible due to the advent of WebGL. Through its library utilities, developers can include complex 3D animations on their website without much effort.
Parsley
Parsley is the ultimate Open Source JavaScript frontend form validation library. Unlike the traditional backend form validation Parsley helps developers to validate forms directly in the frontend. It presents users with feedback on their submitted form before it reaches backend. Thanks to the new Intuitive DOM API you can write your requirements in HTML tags in plain English, without a single line of JavaScript and Parsley will do the rest. It uses Dynamic Form Validation i.e, it automatically detects your form’s modifications and adapts accordingly. Due to the strong and huge community, it comes with tons of extra validators for your every need. It is a super reliable work on every browser. It is UI and UX focused and can be overridden to fit your needs.
reveal.js
reveal.js is an open-source HTML presentation framework. It’s a tool that enables anyone with a web browser to create fully-featured and beautiful presentations for free. It enables anyone with a web browser to create beautiful and powerful presentations for free. Presentations made with reveal.js are built on open web technologies. That means anything you can do on the web, you can do in your presentation. Change styles with CSS, include an external web page using an <iframe> or add your own custom behavior using their API. The framework comes with a broad range of features including nested slides, Markdown support, auto-animate, PDF export, speaker notes, LaReX support, and syntax highlighted code.
Fabric.js
Fabric.js is a Powerful JavaScript and HTML canvas library. It is a fully open-source project with many contributions over the years. Fabrice JS provides some simple components that don’t require a framework. It allows you to create simple shapes like circles, triangles, rectangles or other polygon or any complex shape you can think of, with the help of Fabric.js you can do that. With fabric.js you can add text and dynamically manipulate its properties. Apply filters to images. You can add properties to objects like shadows, make them draggable, scale, flip in any direction and you can even do all this with even grouping objects. Fabric.js comes even with animation support. With Fabric.js you can turn your imagination into reality!
So this was the list of few libraries that can assist you in the process. This is not even the tip of the iceberg! there is an ocean of them available to use which you can explore and experiment with. So start using them and work smarter not harder!
Do you think any other libraries that can add up to the list? Please comment and let us know!
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