JavaScript libraries have a large influence on the web development process and web community. New libraries appear with admirable frequency compared to other platforms. That’s one of the aspects that drive web development further.
Still, the rising number of web development libraries makes it hard to find something noteworthy in the pile of second-rate projects. That’s why we’ve created the list of the most promising JavaScript web development libraries in 2020.
Popular JavaScript Libraries
We’ll start our list with two must-have libraries for all web developers. If you’re an aspiring developer, these tools will impress you with their ease-of-use and abilities that they provide to your website. However, experienced developers will be satisfied with enhanced optimization and low resource consumption.
1. React.js
Probably all web developers have heard about React.js at least once in their lives. Apart from all technical advantages like fast rendering, reusing system and design components, and downward data flow, this library is also SEO friendly. With a lot of JavaScript elements, websites may lose search results position. But React.js handles this issue.
As Vue.js, React.js is easy-to-learn and has a strong community that can answer all questions that arise throughout the development.
Vue.js
Vue.js is a popular JavaScript library with a low entry threshold. Everyone who is familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will be able to start learning Vue.js. This library has a set of benefits that make it stand out among the others.
First, it’s really tiny. The size of this library is around 30 KB. It’s a hilarious size for the opportunities provided by Vue.js. Even though it’s easy to understand for newcomers, it doesn’t mean that this library is short of opportunities for experienced developers. With Vue.js, you can build complex cross-platform applications with ES6, JSX, routing, components, and many more. Finally, this framework is well-documented, so it’s easy to figure out all aspects of Vue.js.
Libraries on the Rise in 2020
Now, we’ll go through the less popular libraries that can bring many interesting features to your projects. It’s totally worth it to keep an eye on them to stay on top of trends.
3. Polymer
Polymer is Google’s JavaScript library. It helps engineers create website components with enhanced user experience and in a shorter time. With Polymer, you can create custom web elements and create interactions among them with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Furthermore, a command-line allows managing elements of any complexity on the layout. Polymer also provides automatic data storage, cross-browser compatibility, UI updates, and other adorable features for your website.
4. Choreographer-js
Choreographer is a JavaScript library that allows developers to create fancy CSS animations. These animations can be triggered on a mouse scroll. One of the examples is making the color transition from light to dark color when scrolling the web-page.
5. Jest
There’s no escape from testing. Web software requires JavaScript-based testing tools, and Jest is one of them. It allows testing React and React Native applications. Still, if you need, you can test any other JS-based library or framework with Jest.
Jest is fast to learn and easy to implement. Developers who previously worked with Mocha will figure everything about Jest even faster. On top of that, this library is good to go out of the box. It doesn’t need additional adjustments and configuration.
6. Socket.IO
Socket.IO is another remarkable library on our list. It’s responsible for real-time communication between users and servers. It’s a cross-platform and cross-browser technology that has high connection speed. We can also highlight an auto-reconnect feature that, in case of weak connection, reconnects users back to the server almost instantly.
The main secret of Socke.IO is that it establishes a connection before proxies, firewalls, and other tools. It also reliefs the load off the socket by reducing the number of TCP connections.
7. Three.js
Three.js is a library that makes it possible to create 3D applications with JavaScript. It simplifies working with WebGL that, in its turn, helps engineers to place 3D projects inside their projects. With Three.js, you can create ordinary web applications with 3D objects, as well as primary level games.
The most exciting fact is that your users don’t have to download the project. That’s how you can share your works and attract a larger audience.
8. TaffyDB
TaffyDB is a JavaScript library that stores data in JSON format. After importing a JSON file to TaffyDB, you get a set of methods from conventional databases like INSERT, DELETE, SELECT, JOIN, and more. TaffyDB also can categorize data and create different groups with given data.
On top of that, your data will be compatible with DOM libraries. Now, it can be integrated with jQuery, YUI, and other libraries. Cross-browser compatibility is another benefit of TaffyDB. You can use this database with Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, and other popular browsers.
9. Algolia Places
Algolia Places is a library that deals with auto-completion of addresses. Basically, it automates routine and repetitive processes and enhances user experience. It’s easy to implement and make use of this library. Moreover, it’s lightweight and well-optimized, so Algolia Places won’t harm your application’s performance.
10. Howler.js
Howler.js is an audio library for web-based applications. It supports all up-to-date codecs like MP3, OGA, MPEG, MP4, and others. With only a few lines of code, developers can play different sounds when triggering Javascript events and create audio players.
Moreover, this audio library has spatial sound support. In combination with Three.js, you can create a full-fledged 3D game with amazing sound in the browser.
11. Chart.js
Chart.js is another tiny chart library that creates charts for data visualization. The size of this library is only 11KB. Chart.js provides you with six basic types of charts. If you don’t need some of them, you can exclude them to make the library’s size even smaller.
Chart.js creates responsive charts, so your web page will look great on all display sizes. As for the browsers, this library supports all up-to-date versions and even older Internet Explorer (7/8) versions.
12. Riot.js
Riot.js is a fast-developing alternative to React. Even though it has a small community and doesn’t have Facebook’s support, it still provides interesting features. For example, virtual DOM improves control over the app due to clean syntax. If you need a minimalistic JavaScript-based UI library, Riot.js is definitely worth considering.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, there’s a lot of both well-established and developing libraries for JavaScript developers. Every engineer can find something that will satisfy the needs of their project. But don’t get carried away by all these libraries. Useless features for your specific application may lead to poor performance, bugs, and worsen the user experience.
