It’s been a long way for front end technologies – as far back as when Tim Berners Lee introduced HyperText Markup Language (HTML) in the early 1990s. Back then, there were no separate style sheets, so developers had to make them with HTML tags for the structure and appearance of content. For users, it was a one-way street that didn’t allow interaction. In this blog, we will see the front end technologies list for 2024.
So much has changed in the space of thirty years or thereabout. Nowadays, the front-end technology ecosystem is broader, with so many tools equipping even beginners to create and release projects quickly. It doesn’t look like the evolution is stopping anytime soon, does it? Because frontend development is constantly growing, new libraries, frameworks, and technologies will always be emerging yearly.
This is where the problem comes for developers and businesses looking to build their next project. Which one do we use and why? To answer this question, we’ve curated this front end technologies list of what to use when building visually appealing and functional web projects in 2024.
Table of contents
- What is Front end Development?
- Importance of Frontend Development in 2024
- The Best Front end Technologies in 2024
- Front end Trends in 2024
- Choose ClickIT for Frontend Development
- Conclusion
- FAQs
What is Front end Development?
Frontend development covers every design and development that goes into building the visual presentation of a digital product. That’s the part where the user sees and interacts with a website or application, meaning it immediately influences their perception of your business’s digital presence.
Imagine a new user who has never interacted with your brand lands on your website, and it looks engaging and interactive; they’d likely prefer that over one with a scattered and boring layout. But don’t be carried away; looks aren’t everything – not in life and certainly not in software development. As a frontend developer, you must build elements that make your product easy to use and fast. That’s why we have a front-end technologies list that will help you create beautiful interfaces and a functional product for the best user experience.
Why is Front End Development important?
By making the interface intuitive and visually appealing, a well-designed front end ensures that users have a seamless and engaging experience. It can improve user satisfaction, increase engagement, and drive conversions, making it an essential component of any digital product.
What if you bought a car that only had the chassis and running gear – no body, paint job, comfortable seats, or user-friendly controls? Unless you’re an automobile, you won’t have a pleasant driving experience. Just like the body and design of a car make it appealing and usable to the driver, front-end development provides the look, feel, and interactive aspects of a website or application.
Here are some reasons why frontend development is important:
For a good first impression
Have you ever visited a site for the first time that failed to load every time? Or maybe an app that was so poorly designed you couldn’t find your way around. Chances are you’re never going back. That’s because your first impression is usually the last impression.
As a business owner, user experience is important because you want new visitors to have a good impression of your company’s offerings. At the same time, you want returning customers to enjoy the same seamless experience they’re accustomed to when they call on you.
As a front-end developer or UI/UX designer, you want to translate this priority into producing beautiful and useful products. This makes frontend development critical.
To simplify navigation
When people visit a website or app, they don’t want to struggle to move around. If they do, they’ll be going to a competitor in a flash.
This stat confirms it, with nearly 80% of users saying they will leave a website immediately if they don’t find what they’re looking for. Does that sound like something you would like to risk?
When users continue to leave your website as soon as they come, you will have high bounce rates to contend with. And that’s bad for search engine optimization (SEO).
With front-end development, you can make the user journey simpler, easier and more convenient. A good UI keeps the user interested and ensures they find their way around without help.
Necessary for user retention
This is an extension of the benefit we just discussed. It’s simple; when users find your website or app simple, interactive, and functional, they’re more likely to come back. So, the more visitors stay and keep returning, the better your chances of converting them into paying customers.
Increase customer base
It’s a simple human behavior that when we enjoy something, we tell others about it. For example, when we see a good movie, we can’t stop talking about it to our friends and family. For us developers, when we enjoy using a tool or technology, we share it with our community.
In the same way, customers will spread the word about quality service. Your web visitors will become your brand advocates if you provide a seamless user experience with frontend development.
This then leads to a larger customer base that boosts business performance.
For consistent branding
Another reason why frontend development is important is because it contributes to consistent branding across all digital platforms.
As frontend development implements brand colors, typography, logo, and theme, you strengthen your brand’s recognition across all digital touchpoints. Thus, your website, mobile applications, and other digital interfaces present a cohesive and engaging user experience, allowing you to create a uniform design language that aligns with your brand identity and enhances user trust and loyalty.
Finally, no matter how powerful the backend processing might be, users wouldn’t have a smooth or intuitive experience without front end development.
What Are The Best Front End Technologies?
Whether you’re new to front end development or a professional looking to update your knowledge, understanding the best front end technologies is necessary for success in this fast-changing software development environment.
So, here is the front end technologies list you should look out for in 2024.
1. Front end Technologies: JavaScript
Can there be any conversation about frontend technologies without mentioning JavaScript? We don’t think so (and there are many reasons why). In fact, many of the other technologies we’ll be talking about down the line will somehow be connected to JavaScript.
It is one of the building blocks of the World Wide Web and is still used by nearly 99% of all websites today!
Since Brendan Eich introduced JavaScript in 1995, the dynamic, interpreted scripting language has been a regular fixture for front-end development in web applications.
It allows mobile and desktop webpages to refresh themselves and respond to user actions without the page reloading. JavaScript extends website functionality besides the appeal that HTML and CSS give, allowing devs to model animated UI components like navigation menus, pop-ups, and image sliders.
According to StackOverflow’s 2023 Developer Survey, JavaScript has been the most popular programming language for the last 11 years! We fully expect it to continue to lead the way throughout 2024.
What’s more? It’s easy to learn, so it’s ideal for first-timers, while its versatility is also highly valuable to professional developers.
2. Front end Technologies: Angular 17
Angular is a TypeScript-based framework for building user faces. Originally developed in 2009, the open-source front end technology provides a modular and component-based approach that follows the Model, View, and Controller (MVC) architecture.
There are two main reasons why it’s popular among developers (and why we think it’ll continue to be a good choice in 2024).
- Angular Elements allows you to simply integrate Angular components into non-Angular environments as custom elements. Considering how diverse frontend technologies are nowadays, this interoperability bridges the gap between different frameworks. So, you get to tap into Angular’s capabilities without being bound to a single framework.
- Ivy, the other feature, reduces bundle sizes and improves rendering capabilities. This means applications load faster and are more efficient. The Ivy component uses advanced compilation techniques and tree shaking, meaning only necessary code is included in the final product.
There’s more to come with the latest release of Angular 17, which was announced just a few weeks ago. This new version promises features like deferrable views, better documentation, and faster builds for hybrid and client-side rendering. It was released just at the right time for Angular to be an excellent choice for frontend technologies in 2024.
Read the blog React vs Angular and discover which one to use for your project.
3. Front end Technologies: CSS
Like JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a core front end technology that adds styling rules to HTML. It allows you to set the colors, fonts, layouts, and even animations to enhance the structure of your web application, making it look interactive.
CSS, alongside HTML and JavaScript, are the trifecta of front-end web development for the World Wide Web. Back when it was released, it was a big one that turned bland web pages into responsive and visually appealing sites.
This importance is set to continue this year. In addition, CSS is consistently updated with new features, extensive support across major browsers, and responsiveness that adapts to today’s multi-device (and screen) world.
4. Front end Technologies: Tailwind
Since we just discussed CSS, it’s only right we continue with a related front end technology. Tailwind is a utility-first CSS framework that provides a set of pre-built classes to speed up your development process.
This means rather than writing individual CSS styles from scratch; you can just use Tailwind’s utility classes to fast-track the process and apply styling directly into your HTML.
If you ask any frontend web developer today, their learning path likely followed an approach similar to HTML → CSS → Tailwind (or Bootstrap) → JavaScript.
Tailwind is still important in this process today. Why?
Traditional CSS frameworks generally have pre-designed components and styles. With Tailwind CSS, you get small, single-purpose utility classes that can be combined to create custom styles. This gives more flexibility and control over the website’s appearance.
Now, we admit that some may say Tailwind is too contrived, but more than 400 companies are still using it in their tech stacks. That includes Loom, Shopify, and even Open AI! It’s certainly a top choice for 2024.
5. Front end Technologies: TypeScript
In the front end technologies list we also have, TypeScript is a strongly typed programming language that is largely considered a “JavaScript superset” because it builds on JS with added syntax types.
We can write an entire book about JavaScript’s advantages, but one niggly issue remains – it can be tricky with types. Because it is dynamically typed, you may not catch type errors until runtime. This may not be a problem for small projects, but it can pose huge challenges for large codebases.
TypeScript takes that problem away.
TS incorporates compile-time type checking, which reduces common errors. In addition, it also improves code readability and maintainability in large-scale projects and enables refined refactoring processes.
Moreover, because it builds on JavaScript, it’s easy to transition and integrate into existing codebases. This doesn’t automatically make TypeScript “better” than JavaScript, but it certainly improves the developer experience. That explains why the TS community is growing, and it’s set for a great year in 2024.
Want to see all the differences and similarities between both languages? Learn more about TypeScript vs JavaScript in our comprehensive guide.
6. Front end Technologies: HTML
HTML is the foundation of the World Wide Web – it doesn’t get much more important than that.
It allows developers to build the structure or “markup” of a website. Additionally, its elements provide the tools to add features like buttons, forms, and containers to the page.
Through HTML, browsers can display text, load elements, and render webpages containing hyperlinks for users.
One could argue there are not many better ways to start your frontend web development journey than learning HTML first.
7. Front end Technologies: React JS
Built by Facebook (now Meta), ReactJs is an open-source JavaScript library for building web applications.
Like Angular, React also follows a component-based architecture, which means you can assemble reusable components for single and multi-page applications, making it faster and easier to build web applications.
Additionally, React has a rich ecosystem that includes tools and libraries like Redux for state management and React Router for navigation. It also has a strong and active community, meaning you’ll hardly get lost, whether as a beginner or a pro.
According to this report by Abekus, ReactJS was the most popular JavaScript library in 2023, claiming over 40% of the market share. We project it’ll continue to be one of the top choices for devs in 2024.
Do you want to hire a React developer, or could ReactJS be a part of your tech stack for a project? ClickIT is your reliable partner! With more than a decade of experience in React web development, our team of React experts and dedicated engineers help companies like yours build powerful, user-friendly apps in record time.
8. Front end Technologies: Vue.js
Vue is a JavaScript framework that’s great for single-page web applications. It is designed to create user interfaces for declarative and component-based programming.
One thing we like about Vue.js is its simplicity. For instance, you most likely won’t need extra libraries or plugins when building simple to mid-scale projects because it has a set of robust out-of-the-box features to build a web app.
Moreover, you can do all the things you would do with React or Angular using one file rather than separate ones for each component. If you’re a developer who doesn’t like a bloated or scattered codebase, Vue.js is the ideal option.
Read our blog Vue vs React, to learn the differences between these technologies
9. Front end Technologies: Ember
In the front end technologies list we also have, Ember another open-source JavaScript framework for building web applications. It provides data management and application flow, which can help streamline the development process.
In addition, it follows the Mode-View-Controller approach, allowing you to write organized and structured code. The Ember.js website says it enables you to build “ambitious” web applications.
What they’re saying is if you want to build a single-page web application that tests the limits of what’s possible on the web, then Ember.js is the choice.
That could be true – Ember has a well-established set of conventions, an integrated templating library, and the infamous Ember CLI, the powerful command line interface that enhances productivity and enforces best practices.
In Ember, the user receives the complete website once after the initial request. While that means a longer initial load time, it significantly improves performance for each subsequent user action. This leads to a better user experience going forward.
10. Front end Technologies: Material UI
Material UI is a component library built on React. It contains predefined components to build React applications. Created in 2014 and based on Google’s Material Design, it’s pretty much a design library that works well with various JavaScript frameworks. A decade later, it’s one of the best front end technologies you could use.
With nearly 700,000 websites using Material UI and more than 2,500 contributors, it’s a useful framework for building consistent and efficient user interfaces in web apps. It is highly customizable, SEO-friendly, and easily integrated with the backend.
As developers increasingly prefer tools and frameworks that can streamline their work, Material UI can feature strongly in the preferred front end technologies list.
11. Front end Technologies: Vite
Vitejs is a fast and lightweight front end technology for building web applications. Because it’s platform-agnostic, it is great for developing TypeScript/JavaScript applications and is also optimized for building web apps that use JS frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte.
One thing that we think makes Vite a top choice in the front end technologies list is its built-in development server. This feature leverages native ES modules in the browser, which allows super-fast compilation and hot module replacement that lead to quick load times.
In addition, it has other features like CSS preprocessing and a plugin system that extends its functionality. These features not only improve the user experience on the front end but streamline the developer experience as well. As more developers enjoy working with Vite, we see its usage growing in 2024.
12. Front end Technologies: Next.js
Nextjs is an open-source JavaScript framework built on the React library and used for developing web applications. It offers pre-built tools and functionalities like static site generation, hybrid rendering, and automatic code splitting.
Created by Vercel in 2016, Next.js also supports hot module reloading dynamic imports and provides serverless functions.
What these features mean is that Next.js can efficiently update modules in a running application without needing a full reload, provides on-demand component loading for better performance, and offers scalable backend integration without a separate server.
These features contribute to faster page loads, improved SEO, and efficient resource management. As you would expect, this inherently makes it a powerful tool for modern web development.
Besides, data-heavy and multi-user platforms like Netflix, TikTok, and Hulu have Next.js as a core technology in their tech stack.
With an impressive move from 11th place in 2022 to 6th place in 2023, based on StackOverflow’s survey, Nextjs is set for continuous growth and increased usage among web developers in 2024.
Read our blog Next.js vs react.
Front end Trends in 2024
Now that we’ve covered the best front end technologies list you can use, there are certain trends you should take note of as well. Understanding these trends ahead of time gives you a better head start and prepares you to take advantage.
1. AI Chatbots
Still struggling to accept artificial intelligence? It’s time to embrace the change. The frontend ecosystem is expanding quickly, and AI is here to stay. We see a convergence where AI-powered chatbots accelerate the growth of frontend development.
These computer programs can be used to answer customer questions and give personalized help and recommendations. Rather than have users come on your website or app to find solutions, they can simply have a quick chat with the bot and get help.
Moreover, these bots can collect vast amounts of data, learn from previous conversations, and use natural language processing (NLP) to understand human language or context. They can even be used as an upgrade to the FAQ page.
Bigwigs like Amazon and Salesforce already use AI chatbots to make customer service efficient and faster.
Read the blog The Best Artificial Intelligence Software Development Tools
1. Single-Page Applications (SPAs)
Most websites you visit today are multi-page, but single-page applications are growing in popularity. That’s why we listed single-page development frameworks like Vue and Angular as some of the front end technologies to look out for earlier.
But why have SPAs become popular? For one, today’s customers are not as patient – they demand fast-loading apps. SPAs offer added user-friendly advantages like continuous content flow, no navigational issues, and endless scrolling that provide an app-like experience.
Although multi-page web apps can be optimized for speed, single-page applications are often faster, offer a better user experience, and reduce development time.
Companies like Gmail, Netflix, and Pinterest have moved to SPAs, and there’s still time to join the party.
2. Motion UI
The “motion” here is about offering users more than just a static design of texts and images. It’s adding something more – like animations, visual signals, and elements like transitions, fade-outs, etc.
Considering the modern user’s desire for an interactive and intuitive application, adding motion UI components to frontend development is a great way to encourage user engagement.
You can also tie this into your single-page application development. While SPAs can be faster than multi-page apps, the initial load time may take some time.
Therefore, introducing motion UI is a creative way to retain users until the main content loads. In the long run, this can contribute to better conversion rates and increased revenue for your business.
3. Micro Front-End Apps
A micro front-end architecture divides the client side into multiple semi-independent segments that work loosely together. This allows the development team to break down the app into components that function like standalone applications.
Now, you may wonder how this helps and why it’s a growing trend.
Firstly, it allows the team to divide and build responsibilities, allowing each dev to focus on individual components. Secondly, it enhances collaboration and processing of a single codebase in developing a complete front-end structure. Lastly, it makes the code reusable, ensuring necessary components can still be useful later on.
As a business owner, you want to reduce the time-to-market (TMM), while developers want a tool that streamlines their work. This means a trend like micro front-end app development is set to become more popular.
Discover how to develop micro frontends with React
4. Serverless Architecture
A serverless architecture is when you build and run applications and services without managing infrastructure. That is, the cloud provider (CP) does the latter.
As a developer, this takes the bulk of server management and infrastructure decisions away. You only need to focus on writing the code, and the CP takes care of the storage, servers, and networking. This leads to faster deployment times and efficient scaling.
Additionally, using a serverless architecture reduces the need for traditional server maintenance and costs. This model also often comes with pay-as-you-go pricing, meaning you only pay for the resources you use.
As a result, you’ll be cutting the overall development and maintenance costs. All these benefits indicate why this model is gaining prominence and will be a core trend in 2024.
Choose ClickIT for Frontend Development
Looking to build frontend interfaces that pull visitors and help them convert into customers? ClickIT is your trusted partner. At ClickIT, we leverage the best front-end technologies that are most suitable for your specific project.
Our team of over 50 certified, experienced engineers helps craft seamless user journeys through interactive and functional interfaces that guide users from the moment they first visit your platform till they become customers.
We combine excellent visuals with robust security and high performance that optimize your app for responsiveness, interactivity, scalability, and performance.
Conclusion
We cannot overemphasize how crucial the frontend of your website, web app, or application is. It’s the first impression, which is also usually the last impression people have of your business and brand.
Using the best front end technologies and understanding the latest trends helps you build a successful web presence by delivering the right influence on your potential customer.
A good user interface leads to better retention and higher conversion rates. In addition, it can also support your SEO efforts and fast-track the development timeline.
The effects of proper frontend development can be far-reaching and contribute to the overall success of your business, improving efficiency, performance, and compatibility.
FAQs
The growth of AI-powered chatbots for customer service, single-page applications for fast-loading sites, motion UI for user experience, micro front-end apps, and serverless architecture for developer experience are the top trends that will dominate frontend development in 2024.
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the trifecta of frontend development and will continue in 2024 and beyond, while frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue are popular choices. However, the specific technology will depend on the project’s requirements and developer experience.
Yes. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on interface-based technology and businesses try to prioritize user experience, frontend developers will continue to be in demand in 2024.
React, Angular, Vue, and Ember have some of the largest communities and ecosystems, making them likely to be relevant for the foreseeable future. However, the best front end technology to use ultimately depends on the project’s needs.
Although AI can be a valuable tool in front-end development, it cannot completely replace the expertise, creativity, and human touch that front-end developers bring.
