Benefits and Disadvantages of UI Frameworks
10 Oct 2019
Work smarter, not harder! We’ve all heard this phrase before at least once in our lifetime. It means to use your thinking skills to minimize tasks, so that you use your time wisely and more efficiently to get things done quickly. This phrase can also be applied to the development world in the form of a UI Framework.
What is a UI framework?
A UI framework (User-Interface framework) is a frame with software tools to help hold together written code by the user. In UI development and design, they create a base around which the rest of the project can be built.
This includes things like:
- Programs that support the main design
- Code libraries
- Tool sets
- Application Programming Interfaces (API)
- Compilers
Benefits
Easy to get started
- Great for prototyping
- Handy when against tight deadlines
- Provides solid foundation for responsive design
Good Looking UI
- Provides consistent UI design for developers who lack design skills
- Provides a base development for non-developers to get something up quick for mockups
- Components of the UI have a base style to be extended (forms, buttons, menus, etc.)
Code is reliable and tested
- Code is widely used, especially open source
- Cross-browser compatibility is built in
Help is readily available
- Front-end frameworks are widely used, so answers to common problems are easy to find
- Documentation is usually thorough
- Free professional themes and templates may be available
Disadvantages
You’re not learning how to code
- Easy to fall into a trap of leaning the framework instead of learning how to develop
- Often miss out on valuable experience with the underlying technology
Updates can introduce issues
- Updating may introduce conflicts with your code
- You’re at the mercy of the framework developers when it comes to updates
What’s the Verdict?
There are definitely pros and cons to using a UI framework. This means if you were a developer and had deadlines for your projects, by using a UI framework, it would help build your software quicker and more efficiently. This sure does make development life easier. But sometimes that may not be the case. You would have to learn all the nuances of the framework to be able to benefit from it.