The Good and the Bad of ReactJS Web App Development
How to ensure you are leading ahead in the web industry? The answer is keeping pace with modern technologies. This is why most businesses are adopting React JS for web app development.
ReactJS is the leading widely applicable JavaScript technology. Software engineer Jordan Walke (from Facebook) built and released it as a new perspective on developing interactive, dynamic user-interface components.
However, every good technology comes with some flaws. Therefore, this blog post highlights the good and bad of React JS. Let’s dive deep into the blog to explore it in detail.
React JS — An Overview
React is an open-source JavaScript library that was released in 2013. The library is used by developers for web app development and is designed to help them build fast single-page applications and user interfaces.
More than 40% of developers declared React JS as their framework of choice. However, you need to know that React is a library, not a framework.
React JS Popularity
React JS development has enabled the app development process and improved developers’ everyday tasks. For instance, more than 1/3rd of dedicated app developers choose ReactJS when it comes to web frameworks. It has achieved popularity majorly because of its capability to help developers build fast single-page applications and user interfaces.
The above table showcases the latest survey by Stack Overflow. It highlights the majority of developers using and continuously choosing React JS. But that doesn’t make it a perfect choice for your project.
Before choosing React JS library, it is critical to know the key benefits and drawbacks when using the library.
Pros and Cons of React JS
Let’s dive deep into the pros and cons of React JS.
Pros of React JS
React JS offers multiple benefits when it comes to web app development. And they are listed below to give you a wide overview.
Virtual DOM (Document Object Model)
Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) is key to improving the user experience. It is liable for React’s performance and speed. It also assists in making the overall web development process faster.
In simple terms, DOM is a logical structure in either XML, HTML, or XHTML formats. Additionally, it takes less time to update than a regular DOM, which is a massive advantage.
Easy to Use
One of the reasons why it’s the most preferred library in web development is because it’s easy to learn and use. You can easily learn and understand it as compared to other popular frontend frameworks like Angular & Vue.
Considering the versatility of the library and its easier learning process, you can expect a rising demand for React, as almost 10,000 companies are using it.
Reusable Components
Reusable components are one of the crucial characteristics that add value to React’s popularity. They make the development process simpler and easier as the developers don’t have to code from scratch for a similar project and can reuse components in their other projects (wherever possible).
In fact, you can consider the fact that they’re one of React’s most important features in web app development. They make coding easier and speed up the development process, making React one of the best technologies.
SEO-Friendliness
Search engine optimization is equally critical as the content itself and should be considered even before developing a website. But why are we bringing SEO up while focusing on React? Well, because this JavaScript library is the best tool for developing SEO-based web apps!
With React JS development, your website becomes more readable in search engines, including Google. It also reduces the issue of heavy JavaScript with a view to making your website more SEO-friendly.
React Developers Tool
React is a prominent library for creating user interfaces. React Developer Tools, a browser extension available for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, also support it.
Developed by Facebook, the tools are updated regularly. Additionally, they have been employed by over 2,000,000 users.
Cons of React JS
While React has numerous benefits, it also has some disadvantages that you should consider. These include:
Development Speed
Even though this one appears to be an upside rather than a downside, it may still be sensed as something unfavorable. The reason for it is that the library is continually evolving, resulting in developers being dissatisfied with the need for constant training for new processes or mechanics.
Inadequate Documentation
React receives regular updates. While it’s right for the library’s performance, its volume reduces the engineer’s time writing thorough documentation. The only resources left to designers are bare-bones text guidelines.
Complicated JSX
ReactJS uses JSX syntax extension on a bigger scale. The extension helps in making JavaScript objects with the HTML syntax. This process helps facilitate the process of the document object model (DOM) modification. Moreover, the JSX extension creates the DOM modification code more readable.
But on the other hand, this extension may appear confusing for naïve and budding engineers. There may be instances where the developers may need more time to adjust and understand the extension. This is the reason why new designers consider JSX as a ReactJS disadvantage.
6 Popular Web Apps Made With React
Multiple applications are built with React, some very popular ones and others less famous.
- Netflix
- New York Times
- Dropbox
React or Not to React?
The above-mentioned pros and cons have clearly showcased when and why React JS is the right choice for developers. React is considered the safest tool to influence long-term supported web applications.
It generates user interface components in a meaningful way. It is a suitable choice for gradually updating the relevant code base.
React represents a mixed approach for developing full-featured web apps, helps manage data logic and views changes in an easy-to-maintain, adaptable and scalable structure without compromising UX.
After knowing the benefits and drawbacks of React JS, we can say that it’s worth the try. So what are you waiting for? Use React.js on your next web app development project!
But it is recommended to hire React JS developers before adopting it for your next project. The right guidance will help you save costs, time, and resources.
