Coding is a chaotic business. You could build the most structured backend, making your app robust, but still, the frontend is what end-users see, interact with, and mostly care about. Hence, frontend development is moving at a headlong pace. And what I’m saying is nothing new, as it is quite evident by the tutorials, myriad articles, and Twitter threads wailing about the state of what once was a basic tech stack.
Although, choosing a frontend framework for developing your web application interface is a long-term tactic in which you need to have an upper hand over your competitors. Like in the jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces play a significant role in completing it, the same way placing the right components in your app will provide you an advantage over others. And frontend development requires a basic understanding of JavaScript, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). Talking about JavaScript, do you know 63.61% of developers love to use JavaScript as their programming language? Yes, that’s true!
Coming back to the frontend, if you feel not ready in any of these areas, don’t stress, I’ve a hero to save you. Say hi to – Web Components. Developing these custom components and widgets built on Web Component Standards simplifies the challenges you face while developing your frontend. This is the reason why web application development service providers have opted for this approach.
Curious to know more? Welcome on board.
In this article, we’ll learn about Web Components and why they’re a great tool to deliver top-notch user experiences without complex build steps and frameworks.
So, let’s dig in!
What are Web Components?
Web Components are a collection of web platform APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that enable you to build new, reusable, custom, and encapsulated HTML tags to utilize in web apps and web pages. For instance, you can create a new component known as <my-web-component>, with its unique functionality and styling. You can use it with any JavaScript library or framework. And apart from these, it functions across most browsers! Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
The fact Web Components are nonbelievers of frameworks makes developers of component libraries more productive and future-proof as well. So, believe me, on this, Web Components are the next huge thing, and you should think about getting on deck in the early days and enjoy its advantages.
These features make them knights in shining armor as they are ideal for an Angular application or a React application without giving any side effects.
So, Web components are based on four major specifications:
- Custom Elements
The Custom Elements specification sets the cornerstone for designing and using several types of DOM (Document Object Model) elements.
- Shadow DOM
The shadow DOM specification determines how you can utilize markup and encapsulated style in Web Components.
- ES Modules
The ES Modules specification determines the integration and reuse of JavaScript docs in a standards-based, modern, efficient way.
- HTML Template
The HTML template component specification determines the fragment declaration of markup that is unoccupied at page load but can be instantiated at runtime later.
Advantages of Web Components
Here are some things to consider if you are still wondering how exactly Web Components can help you enhance modern web development. Believe me, it’s a boon to web application development services. Let’s see, how:
- Empowers Modularization and Interoperability
Using Web Components, you can experience the small, modular, reusable elements that fit perfectly into web applications and minimize development time. As you can share them and they’re doesn’t rely on any technology stack, you can employ Web Components across multiple projects written in different frameworks. For example, you can easily switch from your React to Angular project.
- UI (User Interface) Rendering with Less JavaScript
All the bits and particles of Web Components operate in the browser – from slots to custom elements. It is extremely useful, especially in the case of static site development that needs almost no tooling and can be easily developed with just spec.
- Low Learning Graph
Developers with less experience or newbie developers can start coding without having to know the complete long story of the JavaScript library. Web Components take charge of providing a spec that every developer can learn, understand, and implement.
- Delivers platform-independence
Built on JavaScript, CSS, and HTML, Web Components have no issues running on multiple browsers. Moreover, there is a proficient level of browser support with strong APIs. Moreover, any custom component and widget created following the Web Component standards can be utilized with all JavaScript frameworks or libraries working with HTML.
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Course Accessibility
HTML Web Components are easily accessible since the custom inbuilt elements can expand native HTML elements (button, select, input). Doing so will acquire all the characteristics and functionalities.
- Encapsulation Mechanism
The Shadow DOM of Web Components helps deliver an encapsulation mechanism. It can split the script, style, and HTML markup so that external documents do not damage the content of the component in any way. Therefore, making modern frontend development easy and quick.
Importance of Web Components
Any web development company can experience great advantages when using Web Components. Primarily, they promote reusing the code both inside and outside of the software project, which aligns the program structure and speeds up the app development process. Secondly, Web Components are encapsulated, referring to how they are independent from the rest of the app’s code. This prevents any conflicts and makes the code simpler, modular, and well-structured. These two properties of Web Components boost productivity, which is important in current cutthroat market scenarios, also minimizing developer’s efforts.
They’re also framework agnostic, which means they can be utilized with any framework, Angular, Vue, or React, or even with no framework at all. Quite interesting! Web Components are easy to share and reuse due to their versatility. It particularly helps when working on projects with different tech stacks.
Summing Up!
Web components serve ample benefits for web development, such as lack of complicated dependencies, HTML standardization, independence from frameworks, simple sharing, efficiency, encapsulation, and reusability. Software developers can easily simplify the code’s structure and fasten the whole development process by implementing the same component in multiple projects. One can also follow the best practices like preventing the Shadow DOM, utilizing host classes, shadow parts, custom properties, and handing in styles as attributes.
And, to make your work a lot easier, you can use the help of a top-notch web development company. They can help you establish a robust digital presence by providing you with solutions integrated with Web Components. Yes, the best web development company can be your answer to all your problems.
So, that was all about Web Components.
Thank you for your time and patience. Hope this article was helpful for you.
Happy Learning!
Author details:
Author Name- Mr. Pratik Mistry
Author bio–
Pratik Mistry is a rare mix of technologist and Executive Vice President in sales at Radixweb. My passion lies in helping companies to grow revenues by delivering top notch custom software development solutions and build value-based partnerships. When not driving high-impact go to market strategies, I love to try new cuisines and going to the movies.
Social network:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratikradixweb/
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