In the last year, many significant events influenced the world of front-end web development. I felt two of them look important than the others. The first event is, without doubt, the completion of HTML5 standard. My pick for the second significant event is related to ReactJS from Facebook. In terms of isomorphic web apps, ReactJS is a phenomenon, especially due to its name, “UI Framework.” The purpose of this framework is specifically for supporting front-end development of an isomorphic applications project.
Diagram of Isomorphic Application
According to isomorphic.net, the definition of isomorphic app is “an application that shares the same code on both sides.” Though a chosen technique can differ from another’s, isomorphic application renders data at the server side and shares the rendering of data at DOM on the client-sided page. Re-rendering and search engine optimization could be much easier because it is addressed by the application, as well. You already experience isomorphic apps everyday, especially if you are actively using Facebook, Yahoo, or Airbnb. Such apps require less stress on your device and browser with realtime update without jamming. The concept is designed for high-level data binding in real-time interaction. The power of ReactJS is in the format of the library. It is a framework involving fewer requests toward the other javascript library.
My interest is due to the virtual DOM that actually impacts user interface design. Jonathan Creamer notes that DOM is the bottleneck of a data-driven web application. For handling this, there are many traffic cops working and there is less opportunity for handling the interaction. Moreover, if your DOM is not representing data virtually, your machine will hold all of the data in its memory, thereby slowing the reaction. In many cases, designs for the data-driven website have been inherently simpler and less expressive, even if there is much space for many kinds of DOM elements that could work with data and API.
In the interview by Techcrunch, Paul Cotton mentioned what HTML5 could be. Cotton evaluated the main achievements of HTML5 as “the set of interoperable HTML5 features that web developers can depend on in building their web sites.” In fact, some of the HTML5 features were more seldom used than the others. In my case, whenever binding data on the web page, I used to start with <div></div>, which could be the other elements. I would refer to the FramerJS as a correlated issue. I felt that FramerJS gives a warm gesture to the UX designer who waits for engineers’ feedback on the interaction. On the other hand, FramerJS could be a result of the same desire for improving user interaction.
ReactJS, itself, could be a pathway toward something, just as Google Chrome created. I posit it as a sign of shift toward new UX service trends in the future. Until now, not all websites have had data API operation. But how can it be in future?
Resources
W3C Declares HTML5 Standard Complete
React.js and How Does It Fit In With Everything Else?
React To The Future With Isomorphic Apps
Isomorphic JavaScript: The Future of Web Apps