Most Optimized JavaScript UI Libraries You Must Know

Whether the age of JavaScript libraries is coming to an end? Large JS frameworks, such as Angular, React or Vue are rapidly developing and turning into the “entry points” for many IT projects. In this situation there is obviously not much to do for the numerous UI libraries that have not developed into full-fledged frameworks. Some of them are leaving the market, others are releasing new versions. And a few are trying to evolve and offer something new to the IT market.

Often programmers consider using third-party libraries when they suddenly lack any functionality or performance within the ongoing framework. Thus, choosing a fast and features reach library becomes a good strategy for them.

Popular JavaScript UI Libraries

Let’s review the most popular UI libraries and analyze their current position.

1. Sencha – Ext JS

Experienced developers know that Sencha is more than just a library. It is a full-fledged framework. A mature product that contains almost all necessary tools for solving any UI/UX tasks.

However, it is included into our review because of the large and high-quality UI component library, where you can find all the elements for your application. Sencha is consistently building an entire eco-environment around its solution and aims to cover all significant niches. Separate packages are available for users to work in the Angular (ExtAngular) and React (ExtAngular) environments.

Features

Sencha Test is designed to facilitate the automated testing process. Sencha Themer is a tool for creating and configuring design schemes. Again, Sencha Stencils is a UI asset kit for Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD, Sketch, and Balsamiq for easy and fast prototyping.

Pros

• Good compatibility with mobile devices and really well-developed adaptability
• Rich UI component library
• Detailed documentation
• Large number of self-study materials

Cons

a. Performance issues
Sencha users often complain about performance issues. Messages about high GPU usage can be found on the technical support forum and such resources as StackOverflow/Disqus.

b. Too much
This product is large and complex. The documentation alone has more than 50,000 pages. Make sure you carefully estimate the time your specialists will need to master new tools.

c. Too complicated
Documentation does not always allow you to achieve the desired result. Combined with performance issues, this creates additional difficulties. Obviously, this has become the reason for creating the tool Sencha Inspector. The description of the latter explicitly mentions that it is “debugging tool for troubleshooting and improving performance of Ext JS and Sencha Touch applications”.

d. Rapid changes
New versions may be accompanied by global changes that will not allow you to make a seamless migration. Many users have expressed their dissatisfaction with the necessity to rewrite the front-end to switch to the new version of Ext JS.

e. Follow-up
Ext JS is the right choice if you already have experienced developers in your team who know Sencha well and you are at the very early stage of project planning. You should take into account the time that your specialists will need to master the new tools. Be ready for some performance issues. Owning a license and access to technical support will be a clear advantage in this regard. Taking into account the complexity of the solution, you should thoroughly explore all the possibilities to fully realize the technical potential of the Ext JS family of products.

2. Webix

Easy and fast UI library with numerous JS components. The project has been developing for more than 8 years already. The main concepts of Webix JavaScript UI Library are performance, design and functionality. The library itself has 100+ widgets and ready-made SPA applications. Webix “preaches” high-speed programming thanks to its simple and concise object-oriented code. Webix shows best rendering speed according to the study of Bryntum specialists. We should note the excellent material design, which is obtained immediately “out of the box” without the need for configuration and customization. All Webix widgets fit together perfectly, which saves a lot of working hours for the developers.

Extra features
Complex Webix widgets are ready-made SPA applications for solving application problems: File Manager, Document Manager, Kanban, Pivot, Query. Really complex solutions that cannot be called widgets, such as SpreadSheet and User Manger stand out a little. The latter is a full-fledged admin panel for user management purposes.

Webix offers several tools for JS developers: Code Snippet, Skin Builder, Form Builder and UI Designer, which is the WYSIWYG UI editor.

Pros

• Light, fast, high-performative
• Easy to learn
• Easy-to-read code
• Extensive widget library
• Beautiful design
• Regular update
• Ready-made templates library

Cons

a. Customization issues
The simplicity and conciseness of the Webix code can become its weakness when you need to go beyond the library and make a deep design or UI components customization.

b. Mobile issues
You may find it difficult to use complex widgets on small-screen mobile devices. The library focused on developing business web apps and complex interfaces will require some adaptation to the requirements of mobile devices.

c. The “raw” UI Designer
WYSIWYG UI editor, which has recently been introduced by Webix, looks too raw and unfinished yet. Another Webix editor, the Form Builder, is more advanced and useful by now.

d. Follow-up
Webix is a lightweight and simple alternative to Ext JS. You get more control and spend less time on research and development. The ready-made design, template library, and complex widgets contribute to fast programming. You can implement Webix at any stage of the development. For example, you can use only separate widgets, or build a complete UI using Webix, which will not require you to spend long hours studying, and will not claim the exclusive role of the only UI library in your project. Webix is a good choice for both novice developers to quickly learn the basics of material design and experienced system architects who want to implement modern UI development practices. However, Webix is not an ideal solution if you are developing a hybrid mobile application. Webix is ideal for startups, because it allows you to significantly save time and resources on development, while getting a beautiful and thoughtful design.

3. Kendo UI

A library that has earned its title as a quality product for web business apps. Regular updates and support for four popular frameworks at once (Angular, React, Vue, jQuery) make it valued by a large community of developers. Telerik company (the developer of Kendo UI) goes much further, and offers UI tools for ASP.NET, including AJAX, MV and Core. There are solutions for PHP, Silverlight, JSP. This comprehensive approach allows you to integrate Kendo UI into almost any system platform.

Extra features
The Unite UX creates applications design from the sketch. The Telerik Document Processing is a set of libraries, which provide you with a complete set of APIs, for manipulation of the most commonly used document flow. DataViz is the set of VR tools and human-realistic stereoscopic 3D.

Pros

• Multiple frameworks development support
• Excellent documentation and support service
• Regular update
• Easy customization
• Tools for automated testing
• Ready-to-use design themes

Cons

a. Limited number of UI components
This vendor is focused on supporting various system platforms. But this has negatively affected the number of UI components. Some developers consider the Kendo UI to be insufficient to implement all the UX cases they have planned.

b. Performance issues
You may encounter poor performance of separate components, such as Grids. The speed of initialization, loading, and rendering can range from excellent to unsatisfactory, which requires some effort to configure and optimize.

c. Lack of documentation
The need to support the same components for multiple frameworks and platforms leads to some gaps in the documentation. This can be compensated by addressing the support, provided that you have purchased a license package and your subscription is up-to-date.

d. High entry threshold
Kendo UI is a hard, complex product. To implement it in your project, you will definitely need efforts and qualified developers. This is justified for large projects, but not appropriate for medium-sized and small ones. It is also not relevant for startups, since it will require significant resources, which is not practical when you are building an MVP.

e. Follow-up
Kendo UI is a good choice for those who need a lot of flexibility in the UI toolkit and want to have experience in deep customization of the front-end layer. This product is great for large and hard projects, especially if they involve multiple development frameworks. You may encounter some problems in the performance of the main components. A limited set of components will allow you to create fairly simple layout designs, which is enough for most business applications, but may be an obstacle for future project scaling.

4. Semantic UI

Another library worthy of our review. Light and easy opensource development designed to simplify and speed up the process of creating web applications. Semantic UI has been well-deserved love among the large user community for many years. The Open Source (MIT) licensing terms impose some restrictions on the scope of this library application. Nevertheless, the library is among the leaders in popularity precisely because of its accessibility. Semantic-UI has good compatibility with React, Angular and Meteor. Many developers choose this product as a more beautiful and unique alternative to Bootstrap.

Extra features
The main feature of the library is the use of natural language to call classes and objects, which makes it easier to learn the basics and helps you remember the syntax better. More attention is paid to styling and theming, which facilitates creating your own design skins or using dozens of built-in ones by default.

Pros

• Excellent code readability (using natural language)
• Quick learning and memorizing classes
• Free Open Source licensing
• Easy styling and theming feature
• Fresh and nice designs
• Great responsive and mobile compatibility
• Wide users community
• Great documentation

Cons

a. Fragmented design
Design themes and styling skins are not always fully developed. This means that you will have to make some effort to get a complete design concept using default styles as a preform. Community shared skins also require some refinement, which is quite typical for opensource products.

b. Small set of UI components
Semantic-UI offers 50+ basic controls and components. You will have to develop the rest yourself. The number of available features is also not big enough, and you will need good knowledge of JavaScript, in case you want to improve the functionality of any component.

c. Good for web, but not for business web apps
The simplicity and conciseness of the code is both a strength and a weakness of this solution. When trying to create a mature business application, you will have to go beyond the library and engage in deep customization, develop missing functionality.

d. Performance issues
Many users note a lack of productivity. The elegant concept of Semantic UI is not always able to provide maximum performance. This takes up resources, and requires high skills.

e. Follow-up
The semantic approach to class names and extensive documentation make this library a good choice for novice developers taking their first steps in web development. The lack of technical support can be compensated by the help from the user community. Absence of an “entry fee” will also help you save resources, but limits you to the scope of the MIT license. Which is not always acceptable for commercial projects. The main challenge here will be to overcome technical problems, because the product does not provide professional technical support. Sematic-UI is a good choice for unloaded solutions, websites and simple business applications.

Conclusion

We’ve described completely different UI libraries, from the most complex Ext JX, balanced Webix and to free opensource Semantic-UI. The question is about the best choice when in need of a high performance UI library for a business web app.
In our opinion, Webix combines maximum performance, sufficient functionality and excellent design to become the N1 choice. Performance is the cornerstone of this library as it was mentioned by the Webix creator in one of the interviews. Beautiful material design as the default design scheme is no less conspicuous.

Ext JS would have been the top earlier, but today this product is too hard and demanding for system resources. You can’t just borrow a component you like. To do this, you will have to study the library’s structure in detail and examine numerous technical peculiarities.

Kendo UI takes the middle position between simple (Webix) and complex (Ext JS). A strong point here is multiple development frameworks support. But documentation gaps and a limited set of UI components weaken the reputation of this solution.

Semantic UI, viewed as an example of an opensource product, is good for simple and non-demanding projects, but it can hardly be used as a professional tool for serious commercial projects.