When completing an app entirely built from scratch the sense of pride and achievement is massive. Life, though, does not let developers do this too often at a professional level. Deadlines and budget constraints mean developers need to use time efficiently while still creating professional products. Development frameworks can be the not so secret weapon in any developer’s arsenal to create great apps and keep those paying the salary happy. What follows is a list of 10 of these not so secret weapons.
React Native
Currently, a lot of developers think React Native when it comes to helping create cross-platform apps. React Native is not the only framework vying for the top spot, many developers are weighing in on whether flutter vs react native is the better framework. Flutter being the new kid on the block has already made a name for itself been used to help develop Google Ads mobile app. React won’t take the fight lying down, and being able to use the framework is predicted to be one of the most in-demand skills for 2020.
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Framework 7
Initially, Framework 7 could only be used by iOS developers. Given the popularity of cross-platform support, the framework now offers Android support. Currently, Framework 7 boasts native scrolling, 1:1 custom animation, a custom DOM library as well as Material Design UI.
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Ionic
Based on the Sass CSS extension it is fairly easy to use. Ionic can also integrate with AngularJS for building more advanced apps, giving the easy to use framework great scope in terms of what can be achieved. Ionic further offers mobile-specific HTML, CSS, and JS components complete with gestures and tools that can work with the predefined components.
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jQuery Mobile
Web developers have relied on jQuery for several years now. jQuery mobile is based on the now mature but still lightweight framework. The greatest advantage of the framework is its simplicity which allows for the “write once, run anywhere” philosophy developers love to aspire too. It can also be used to write apps for Windows Phone and BlackBerry if needed.
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Kendo UI
Offered as both an open-source and enterprise tool, this jQuery based HTML5/JavaScript framework is best known for the wide array of prebuilt themes using Material Design styling. It is far more capable than providing prebuilt themes and can be used to great effect to create custom designs. To do this it also allows for Angular and Bootstrap UI integration.
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Mobile Angular UI
This is a successful open source project which wanted to combine AngularJS and Twitter’s Bootstrap into a mobile UI. It retains most of Bootstrap 3’s syntax while including components missing from Bootstrap’s library like fixed-position navigation bars.
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NativeScript
The framework focusses on native UX development, which in itself is useful but when combined with cross-platform code sharing across for iOS and Android it becomes a Swiss army knife. The only downside to NativeScript is it is not as easy to use as Kendo UI for example.
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Onsen UI
The framework stresses the use of been used for UI and is designed to work with PhoneGap, Cordova, Angular, and jQuery. Onsen is built on HTML and CSS, which can also be a helpful tool to be used along with jQuery Mobile for developers looking to add more functionality, performance, and UI features to their apps.
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Titanium
Unlike the other frameworks on the list Titanium only uses JavaScript in order to create native code. This is done in an attempt to improve performance. Predominantly based on Node.js, the framework offers a vast number of APIs, over 5,000, for the main platforms including iOS and Android. While been known for its extensive library and performance improvements, it is equally known for not being easy to use.
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Sencha Touch
This framework is an HTML/JavaScript framework focussed on providing a visual app builder for HTML 5. Sencha Touch allows for the reuse of components and comes with a handy native packager that streamlines distribution to app stores. Sencha Touch is available as either an open-source or a commercial product.
