If you’re using React.js or React Native to create user interfaces, try these frameworks.
React.js and React Native are popular open source platforms for developing user interfaces (UIs); both rank well for desirability and use in StackOverflow’s 2019 Developer Survey. React.js was developed by Facebook in 2011 as a JavaScript library to address the need for cross-platform, dynamic, and high-performing UIs, while React Native, which Facebook released in 2015, is used for building native applications using JavaScript.
The following are 13 of the best React JavaScript frameworks; all are open source — the first 11 (like React) are licensed under the MIT license and the latter two are licensed under Apache 2.0.
1. Create React App
This command-line interface from Facebook developers is a must-have for every React Native project. The reason is that the Create React App is easy to use and prevents you from having to manually set up and configure your app, thereby saving you a lot of time and effort. With just a simple command, everything will be ready for you to create a React native project easily. You can use it to build a catalog and files, and the framework also includes tools to build, test, and launch your application.
**# Install package
$ npm install -g create-react-native-web-app
# Run create-react-native-web-app <project-directory>
$ create-react-native-web-app myApp
# cd into your <project-directory>
$ cd myApp
# Run Web/Ios/Android development
# Web
$ npm run web
# IOS (simulator)
$ npm run ios
# Android (connected device)
$ npm run android**
Why opt for Create React App
Top-notch tool developed with a configure bundle, transpiler, and test runner
No configuration and no extra files at the app structure
Fixed Development stack
Effective Fast developing tool
2. Material Kit React
Inspired by Google’s Material Design system, Material Kit React can be an excellent choice for building React UI components. The best thing about this library is that it offers a lot of components that are built to fit together and look incredible. There are over 1,000 fully coded components, and each one comes with separate layers organized in folders. This means you have thousands of options to choose from. There are several example pages as well, in case you want to get inspiration or share an idea or concept with someone.
Installing the Material Kit
**$ npm install @material-ui/core**
Implementation
**import React from 'react';
import Button from '@material-ui/core/Button';**
**const App = () => (
<Button variant="contained" color="primary">
Hello World
</Button>
);**
The Material-UI component work without any additional setup, and do not pollute the global scope.
Advantage
The React component supports easier and faster web development. With it, you can build your own design system, or start with Material Design.
3. Shards React
This modern React UI kit has been built from scratch to achieve fast performance. It has a modern design system that lets you customize things the way you want. You can even download the source files to customize things at the code level. Also, the SCSS syntax used for styling enhances the development experience.
Shards React is based on Shards and uses React Datepicker, React Popper (a positioning engine), and noUISlider. It also supports incredible Material Design icons. There are some pre-made versions to help you gain some inspiration and get started.
Installation Shards with Yarn or NPM
# Yarn
yarn add shards-react
# NPM
npm i shards-react
Advantages
Shards is lightweight having a small footprint and weighting ~13kb minified and gzipped
Shards is responsive by default being able to adapt and reflow its layout to any screen size
Shards is well documented so you can start building beautiful interfaces as soon as possible
4. Styled Components
This efficient CSS tool helps build small, reusable components that are responsible for an app’s visual interface. With traditional CSS, you can accidentally overwrite the selectors used in other places on the website, but Styled Components can help you completely avoid this problem by using a CSS syntax directly inside your components.
Installation
npm install --save styled-components
Implementation
const Button = styled.button`
background: background_type;
border-radius: radius_value;
border: abc;
color: name_of_color;
Margin: margin_value;
padding: value;
Advantage
Make components more readable
Components rely on JavaScript for their style
Build custom components with CSS
Inline styling
Convert component even the custom component to a styled component by simply invoking styled()
5. Redux
Redux is a state-management solution for JavaScript applications. While it is mostly used for React.js, you can also use it for other React-like frameworks.
Installation
sudo npm install redux
sudo npm install react-redux
Implementation
import { createStore } from "redux";
import rotateReducer from "reducers/rotateReducer";
function configureStore(state = { rotating: value}) {
return createStore(rotateReducer,state);
}
export default configureStore;
Advantage
Predictable state update helps in defining the data flow of the application
Logic easier to test and time-travel debugging with reducer functions
Centralizing the state
Get the Documentation: React Redux PDF Documentation
6. React Virtualized
This React Native JavaScript framework helps in large-list and tabular-data rendering. Using React Virtualized, you can restrict the number of requests and Document Object Model (DOM) elements, thus enhancing the performance of React apps.
Installation
npm install react-virtualized
Implementation
import 'react-virtualized/styles.css'
import { Column, Table } from 'react-virtualized'
import AutoSizer from 'react-virtualized/dist/commonjs/AutoSizer'
import List from 'react-virtualized/dist/commonjs/List'
{
alias: {
'react-virtualized/List': 'react-virtualized/dist/es/List',
},
...rest
}
Advantages
Display a large amount of data efficiently
Rendering a huge data set
Implements virtual rendering with a set of components
7. React DnD
ReactDnD is responsible for the creation of complex drag-and-drop interfaces. There are dozens of drag-and-drop libraries, but React DnD stands out because it is built on top of modern HTML5’s drag-and-drop API, making the process of creating interfaces easy.
Installation
npm install react-dnd-preview
Implementation
**import Preview from 'react-dnd-preview';
const generatePreview = ({itemType, item, style}) => {
return <div class="item-list" style={style}>{itemType}</div>;
};
class App extends React.Component {
...
render() {
return (
<DndProvider backend={MyBackend}>
<ItemList />
<Preview generator={generatePreview} />
*// or*
<Preview>{generatePreview}</Preview>
</DndProvider>
);
}
}**
Advantages
Beautiful and natural movement of items bouquet
Powerful keyboard and screen reader support wheelchair
Extremely performant
Clean and powerful api
Plays extremely well with standard browser interactions
Unopinionated styling
No creation of additional wrapper dom nodes
8. React Bootstrap
This UI Kit library replaces Bootstrap’s JavaScript with React, giving you more control over the functions of each component. Because each component is built to be easily accessible, React Bootstrap can be beneficial for frontend framework building. There are thousands of bootstrap themes to choose from.
Installation
npm install react-bootstrap bootstrap
Implementation
import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import './index.css';
import App from './App';
import registerServiceWorker from './registerServiceWorker';
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));
registerServiceWorker();
Advantages
Can easily import required code/component
Saves typing and bugs by compressing the Bootstrap
Reduces typing efforts and conflicts by compressing the Bootstrap
It is easy to use
It encapsulates in elements
9. React Suite
React Suite is another efficient React.js framework that contains a wide range of component libraries for enterprise system products. It supports all major browsers and platforms, making it suitable for just about any system. It also supports server-side rendering.
Installation
npm i rsuite --save
Implementation
import { Button } from 'rsuite';
import 'rsuite/styles/less/index.less';
ReactDOM.render(<Button>Button</Button>, mountNode);
Advantages
Easily manage the application easily by the help of global accessing features
Redux library centralizes the state management
Redux is flexible with all the UI layers and has a large ecosystem
Redux reduces this complexity and provides global accessibility
10. PrimeReact
The best thing about PrimeReact is that it provides components that cover almost all of a UI’s basic requirements, such as input options, menus, data presentations, messages, etc. The framework also pays close attention to the mobile experience, thus helping you design touch-optimized elements.
Installation
npm install primereact --save
npm install primeicons --save
Implementation
import {Dialog} from 'primereact/dialog';
import {Accordion,AccordionTab} from 'primereact/accordion';
dependencies: {
"react": "^16.0.0",
"react-dom": "^16.0.0",
"react-transition-group": "^2.2.1",
"classnames": "^2.2.5",
"primeicons": "^2.0.0"
}
Advantages
Simplicity and Performance
Ease of Use
Spring Applications
Create rich user interfaces
Usability and simplicity
If you are interested in learning advanced React, I recommend taking a look at these resources:
React JS — Mastering Redux
The Complete React Native + Hooks Course
Reference links:
Other Dev Posts about React:
Discussion (2)
create-react-app
, has become so bloated, I rarely even use it 😉160MBs if I remember correctly 😀😀
If I need to get up and running quickly with something, I would use
npx degit sveltejs/template
instead 😉BUMP