7 Best JavaScript Front-end Libraries to Develop Web Apps Easily

Whether you are an experienced web developer or a newbie, choosing the right technology stack to develop a web app is a crucial task.

In the technology stack, libraries also play an important role.

Why are libraries important in web development?
Libraries help developers optimize the code, and the development process becomes fast and easy.

According to Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021, in the ninth consecutive year, JavaScript became the most preferable language. In fact, there are various types of JavaScript libraries, frameworks, and tools available for developers to use.

On the contrary, this also brings confusion on choosing the right tool. Surely, you wouldn’t want to take the risk and would be focussing on finding the right library out of the total JavaScript libraries available.

So, we have created a list of the 7 best JavaScript front-end libraries.

Before understanding libraries,
let’s first know why developers prefer to use JavaScript libraries and then we’ll discuss each library in detail.

Why Use JavaScript Front-end Libraries?

A library consists of prewritten code snippets that are commonly referred to as JavaScript functions. A JavaScript library code is an add-in to the rest of the project’s code as per requirement. The use of JavaScript increases the efficiency of development and enhances the speed of project development.

The concept of reusability of code helps developers import the library into the project and use the predefined function instead of writing code from scratch. JavaScript libraries are used for various purposes. Let’s check a few examples.

The JavaScript libraries are used for:

1. DOM (Document Object Model) Manipulation

Once a web page is loaded on a browser, a DOM of that web page is created. DOM helps developers to manipulate the properties and models of a web page using JavaScript. The below image gives the idea of DOM trees. Have a look.

This image shows us details of an HTML document. HTML documents have two important parts: head and body. Also, these two parts (head and body) have internal elements and attributes.



Image Source: W3schools.com

Examples of DOM Manipulation Libraries:

• jQuery
• UmbrellaJS
• femtoJS

2. Data Handling

As the data increases on the web app, it becomes essential to handle data properly in your web application. You would want to add interactivity (graphical representation or visual representation) to your website and also need to take care of your data. To do so, data handling libraries are taken to use. Let’s check examples of database libraries.

Examples of Data Handling JavaScript libraries:

• D3.js
• Chart.js

3. Managing Database

The use of database libraries helps developers to manage databases effectively with a smooth process whether an app is running offline or online. It becomes easy to perform actions like create, update, delete, and select. Also, performing some other tasks like synchronization of data, validation of data, and so on. Let’s check database JavaScript libraries.

Examples of Database JavaScript libraries:

• TaffyDB
• PouchDB

4. Create Animations

Animation on the web pages makes your website more engaging. Don’t you like seeing websites that have animations? Using JavaScript animation libraries will make it easy for you if you want to add animation to your website.

Examples of Animation JavaScript Libraries:

• Anime.js
• Velocity.js

5. Forms

Forms on a website are the essential part, and it helps users to connect with the website owners to inquire about service or get quotes. But, on the other hand, a form without validation generates an opportunity for bots to make your database spam.

Therefore, form validation becomes important, and JavaScript libraries help to build secure forms using functions like validation, handling, field controls, and additional features like transforming layouts.

Examples of JavaScript Forms Libraries:

• Validatejs
• wForms

There are also a few more reasons for which the JavaScript libraries are used, such as image effects, fonts, math/string functions, user interface/components, and so on. So, this is the reason developers prefer to use ready-made JavaScript libraries.

In the next section, we are going to discuss the top JavaScript libraries for developers to build mobile apps or web applications.

7 Best JavaScript Libraries to Ease Your Development Process

We have selected the top JavaScript libraries that developers use for JavaScript-based app development to save time instead of writing repetitive code. Using ready-made libraries helps developers to import the necessary functions while coding the application’s back-end instead of creating functions from scratch.

Let us check the 7 different JavaScript libraries.

1. jQuery

Around 95.4% of websites use the jQuery library in their websites.



Image Source: W3techs.com

This library helps developers to simplify interactions between JS code and HTML code. jQuery is known among developers as a fast, interactive, and feature-rich JavaScript library.

Why use jQuery?
The primary objective to use jQuery is to write less, do more. jQuery allows developers to perform different tasks in HTML documents like manipulation, data handling, event handling, animation, and Ajax.

Which are the top companies or websites that are using jQuery?
Baidu, Amazon, Yahoo, and Zoom are a few of the popular companies that also apply jQuery in their websites.

Let’s understand the features of the jQuery library.

What are the features of the jQuery library?

• This library is easy to use and has a lightweight API.
• It allows CSS manipulation with its predefined CSS methods to manage the style of any HTML elements.
• jQuery is a cross-browser support library that is compatible to execute code on all major browsers.
• jQuery supports Ajax technology that makes it easy for developers to create a website that is responsive and feature-rich.
• It has predefined animate functions that help developers to add animation on a web page of a website.

Let’s check out the benefits of using the jQuery JavaScript library.

Benefits of Using jQuery Library

• Using the jQuery library, web developers can develop applications with fewer line codes.
• With jQuery, developers can easily do DOM manipulation of elements of a webpage, and it is extensible to other plugins to implement. So if you want to implement the specific feature, it allows you to download and integrate with jQuery in a web application.
• It helps to simplify the command JavaScript tasks and helps developers to complete the project within less time duration.

When to Use jQuery Library?

• When you want to handle events in the application and perform the animation in a web application, then jQuery becomes the right choice.
• When you want to implement a library that also fulfills the purpose of SEO.
• This JavaScript library makes it easy to create AJAX-based applications.

As you understand the jQuery library, moving further, we are going to discuss the most popular library React.js.

2. ReactJS

React is a JavaScript library known to build user interfaces with interactivity. React is the top and famous JS library among developers. According to a survey of StackOverFlow 2021, around 40.14% of survey respondents use this library to develop a cross-platform mobile app or single-page apps.



Image Source: StackOverflow.com

Who developed the ReactJS library?
React is one of the best JavaScript libraries developed by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Meta (formerly known as Facebook).

It allows developers to use the concept of virtual DOM as it does not affect the performance of the application.

What is a virtual Document Object Model (DOM)?

The virtual DOM is a programming concept in which the representation of UI of a website or application is kept in memory, and it is synced with real DOM by a library named ReactDOM. In React, a DOM library is used named ReactDOM. Check the features of the ReactJS library.

What are the features of the ReactJS library?

• One-way data binding is a feature that allows developers to design the unidirectional flow of the React app; the framework is designed to keep nested child components under parent components. Thus, a developer gets to know where or when an error occurs, and developers have better control over the application.
• JSX is a simple markup syntax that is similar to HTML, and it is one of the best features that ReactJS offers. This feature allows developers to inject the React code into the HTML web page and makes it easier to write code in ReactJS for developers.
• VirtualDOM allows programmers fast and flexible development of the React application. It replicates the entire web page of React into virtual memory and then syncs it with the real page.
• React offers declarative UI. This feature makes React code more readable and easy to fix the bugs in the application.

Let’s understand the benefits of the ReactJS library.

Benefits of Using ReactJS Library

• React solves the problems of developers in making a complex and dynamic web application.
• Using React virtual DOM, developers don’t need to worry about the performance of a web application.
• Using React, a web developer can decrease the application development time by using its reusable ready-available components.

When to Use ReactJS Library?

• When you want to develop cross-platform applications using a single technology.
• When you want to develop a rich user interface to increase your interactions and responsiveness of the web application, React is preferable.
• When you face challenges of unresponsive pages and your website doesn’t load properly, then using React helps you to solve your website’s technical glitches.

As a leading web development company we provide Reactjs development services to our clients. If you are looking to develop a web app please feel to contact us.

Here is interesting data about the ReactJS library:

Which companies use the ReactJS library?

Most of the top companies use React, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Shopify, and Bloomberg.

Let’s move on to the third library that helps developers to add animation to web applications.

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3. Anime JS

Anime JS as its name suggests is a powerful animation JS library.

Why do developers use Anime JS?
Developers use this library to add animation to web applications. This JS library is lightweight and a simple API, yet powerful to use.

To know which type of animation you can create using the Anime JS library, check a few examples on the CodePen tool. You can take an overview from the below example of an animation that is created using Anime JS.

Source: CodePen Collection

It also offers needful features that are essential for every developer while integrating animation into a web application.

What are the features of the Anime JS library?

• This Anime JS can run with SVG, CSS properties, DOM attributes, and JS objects.
• With the controls section, you can integrate AnimeJS into code for play/pause, restart, reverse, and seek and timeline controls.
• Keyframes feature allows you to create chain animation properties on the website.
• Timeline features allow developers to add multiple instances together to work on a single page.

Let’s now check the benefits of the Anime JS library.

Benefits of Using Anime JavaScript Library

• With the use of Anime JS, developers get an easy way to do staggering and overlapping.
• Anime JS allows developers to use particular elements and properties to animate. So developers can easily integrate the code of a website.

When to Use Anime Small JavaScript Library?

• When you want to animate the frontend components of your website, use the Anime JS library.
• When you want to integrate a lightweight library into your app without making your website size larger.

Do you want to maintain your website code? Check out the fourth library on our list.

4. Lodash

Lodash, a JavaScript library, allows developers to write JavaScript code in a more maintainable and concise way. Lodash library helps developers to simplify the programming with strings, arrays, numbers, functions, and objects.

According to StateOfJS, LodashJS is used over 57.9% frequently by developers. This library is a separate piece of the Underscorejs library that has over 200+ functions for developers to use.



Companies like Slack, Snapchat, Graphy, ROBLOX, GrubHub, and Mastercard use the Lodash library in their technology stack.

Lodash library is well-known as a utility library that helps developers by providing helper functions to make code clear.

Let’s understand the features of the Lodash JS library.

What are the features of the Lodash JS library?

• Rest and spread functions allow developers to define and invoke the functions that take various arguments.
• Using the head and tail function developers can easily get a list of elements without using the utility function.
• The collection of various functions like Each, Get, Map, and Reduce helps developers to perform computation.

Let’s check the benefits of the Lodash library.

Benefits of Using Lodash Library

• Lodash has various functions that help developers to use when required, and it ends the repetitive work of developers.
• Lodash provides one-liner solutions to reduce the line of codes in the functions.

When to Use Lodash Library?

• When developers want to increase the readability of the code and improve its style, it is preferable to use Lodash.
• When you want to perform the manipulation and test of values then Lodash helps developers.

Moving further into our list comes the Chart.js library. This library helps developers to add graphical representations of data via charts.

5. ChartJS

Want a library that helps you to deal with data? Chart.js library helps JavaScript designers and developers to represent data in a compelling and appealing way on a website. This library has 8 types of charts that you can integrate into your website depending on your needs. So, it becomes easy to add interactive graphs and animation to your website to represent data in a proper format.

On top of that, the Chartjs library has received 55.6K GitHub stars and 11.3K GitHub forks. That means it is popular and preferable by developers for integration charts on the website.

What are the features of the ChartJS library?

• In-built eight types of charts line, bar, radar, bubble, scatter, doughnut, and pie that help developers to build data visualization.
• This library also has a feature that helps developers to create custom charts.
• It supports multiple modern browsers so there are no issues of compatibility on any browser when code runs.

Let’s check the benefits of the ChartJS library.

Benefits of Using Chart.js Library

• Compared to SVG, using the ChartJS library provides better performance on the website.
• This library has very managed documentation that helps developers on how to integrate each of the elements on the website.

When to Use Chart.js Library?

• When you want to organize your data and show it to your audience using visualization, then choosing a library like Chart.js is the right choice.
• When you have large data to display your users, then the use of such a Chart.js library is useful. An example of a website showing large data is Google Analytics.

Another library that comes into our list is Backbone, and as its name suggests, it works as a backbone for complex web applications.

6. Backbone

Backbone is helpful to create and structure client-side applications. Backbone makes it easy to handle and maintain front-end applications. It is a very useful tool for developers to create complex, interactive, and data-driven applications. This is one of the top JS frameworks.

This library is structured into MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture. Using this architecture of Backbone, you can structure your data in a proper way into different sections like models, collections, and user interface of the applications.

What are the features of the Backbone library?

• BackboneJS provides building blocks, such as routers, models, views, events and collections to create client-side web applications.
• Backbone allows you to structure code into simple, systematic and organized ways for your project.
• When the application’s model changes, it automatically updates the HTML part of your web application.

Let’s check the benefits of the Backbone library.

Benefits of Using Backbone Library

• It is a lightweight library so it doesn’t impact the performance of your project. No need to worry about the performance of the application.
• It has tons of small libraries that become beneficial for developers to use when required.
• Developers get good documentation that helps developers in writing proper code.

When to Use Backbone library?

• When you need to code numerous lines of programs using JavaScript, then using the Backbone is a reliable option to structure and improve the code readability.
• To develop single-page applications with better code design.
• When you want a well-organized client-side mobile or web application, using the Backbone library helps.

We have discussed six libraries, now, the last but not least is D3.js. Use this library and show your data with a powerful graphical representation.

7. D3.js

D3.js allows developers to bring data to life by using HTML, SVG, and CSS. It is one of the most famous JS libraries among developers that is useful for front-end development. It allows you to generate HTML tables and creative SVG interfaces. With the D3 framework, developers can bring random data to DOM and get the flexibility to provide transformation to a document. Also, you get the benefit of reusing functional code from a diverse collection of official and community-developed modules.

You can check the following gallery image of D3 examples and get an idea of how you can represent data with visualization. The following image shows us various ways of representing data with the use of graphical layouts and other design patterns.



Image Source: D3.js

What are the features of the D3 Front-end framework?

• It is a fast and easy-to-use JavaScript library.
• This library supports large datasets to transform into a graphical visualization.
• You get the feature of code reusability.
• It offers a variety of curve-generating functions.
• Allows you to associate data into an element or group of elements of an HTML page.

Let’s check the advantages and use cases of using the D3 JS framework.

Benefits of Using D3 JavaScript Library

• With this D3.js, you can create an interactive data visualization of your data on the website.
• D3.js is like a modular. You don’t need to download the whole library to use any single component. Instead, you get the flexibility to download a small piece of D3.js and use it in a project. So, it doesn’t affect app performance.
• D3 is an open-source framework. So, if you want to get features as per your needs, you can add them on your own.

When to Use D3 JavaScript Library?

• When you want to integrate graphical visualizations into your website, then use D3 as a solution.
• If you want to display dynamic data on your website using graphical visualization, you can implement the D3 library.

We have discussed 7 front-end libraries that help web developers in various ways like designing an interactive interface, HTML element manipulation, making responsive websites, and developing client-side web applications with interactive user interfaces.

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Check this frequently asked questions section to get more information about front-end libraries.

FAQ About Front-end Libraries and Frameworks

1. What are the common frameworks for developing web applications?

To name a few of the best JavaScript frameworks and other top frameworks for web development, here is the list:

• React.js
• Express
• Angular
• Vue.js
• Asp.Net Core
• Flask
• Django
• Laravel

If you want to get complete details about web development frameworks, then check our blog on the best web development frameworks to choose from.

2. What are factors to consider in web development?

• Choosing a hosting service and a domain
• Functionality
• Usability
• Easy navigation and flow of user
• Browser compatibility

Develop Your Custom App With Front end JavaScript Libraries

We have listed a few of the best JavaScript libraries that help you to reduce the time of development and build robust user interfaces. Whether you want to develop single-page apps or dynamic web applications, these libraries meet your needs of visualization, DOM manipulation, dynamic data synchronization.

Space-O Canada is a leading web app development company in Toronto, Canada. We have experience in developing a variety of web applications that are fast, cost-effective, and scalable.

Want to create a custom web app solution for your business that is fast and scalable? Connect with us to discuss your requirements on developing with advanced JavaScript technologies.