6 Main Benefits of React Web Development

It seems like the business environment has drastically changed since the Covid-19 outbreak, right? With many new technologies flooding the market, alleged financial crisis and changing consumer demands, companies are investigating ways they can adapt to all this.

Digitalisation is now not only a feasible option but an already tested strategy to sustain market shares and even grow despite disruptions. The web applications of industry giants like Netflix and Instagram are built using React, and this article will show why this is a good option for your next software project as well. 

Working in a bespoke software development company focused on React (or ReactJS) web development, I can see the huge benefits our clients (we call them partners) reap after investing in IT outsourcing. React is a modern JavaScript library used to build beautiful, dynamic and interactive user interfaces (UI).

Thanks to component-based development, the websites and web apps can be divided into small building blocks, accelerating project deployment and time-to-market. Without further ado, we dive right into the top 6 main benefits of React web development. 

React is Reactive 

First things first – as the name already implies, React is a reactive or declarative library. But what does this mean, and what are the practical implications? Basically, this has to do with changes in the states of the application. Put simply, an application’s state is a representation of the system at a given moment. 

Whenever a user interacts with your web app, the state and the UI, respectively, change. What React does is to automatically change the UI in response to a changed state and to keep them well synchronized at all times to deliver a seamless user experience (UX). 

React’s Virtual DOM 

One of the major challenges with dynamic web applications is their performance. To enable dynamic websites, a DOM (Document Object Model) is developed in the browser, which saves all elements, no matter how little, in a tree structure so that operations like position calculation or characteristics like color, size, etc. may be performed.

Every time a change is made to the DOM, these properties must be recalculated. Since elements can influence each other in a wide variety of ways, these calculations are usually quite time-consuming, slowing down the web application’s speed and performance.

React solves the associated performance problem by minimising the number of updates to the DOM. To do this, React saves its own version of the DOM: the so-called Virtual DOM. Changes in this Virtual DOM are very quick as no representation has to be calculated. What React does is summarise those changes that happen almost simultaneously.

First, it executes them in the Virtual DOM and then compares them with the “real” DOM ​​and after all that exchanges all changed elements in a combined operation at once. That sounds complex at first, but since the browser only has to carry out the calculations for displaying the elements once, this procedure is many times faster than many smaller updates.

React Exhibits High Flexibility 

Being business-friendly and flexible are two major decisive factors when choosing a technology to use for web development. But what does it mean when we say that a particular technology is flexible? Basically, React provides you with the freedom to choose how you want to handle routing, testing, and folder organisation.

Aside from the environment, React’s flexibility may be utilised on a variety of projects, including web applications, static sites, mobile apps, and even in virtual reality projects. Also, it was originally developed by a Facebook developer and still supported by the tech giant, it is supported by all major browsers.

In terms of its mode of operation and its implementation, React is considered to be a JavaScript library that can be integrated into an application, extend the procedures and ensure the safe execution of certain algorithms.

Because of its unusually high functionality, React is now also considered a fully deployable web framework that allows the integration of various components via its own JSX tags. Plus, compared to AngularJS, another widely used web development framework, React developers get to choose from a wider variety of plugins.

Efficient and Fast Coding with React

While no technology is easy to learn, there are plenty of tutorials and training resources available for those who wish to learn React. So, it is relatively easy for software developers with a background in JavaScript or CSS to learn React. HTML knowledge might also be helpful as JSX, the syntax of React, is based on it. Now, let’s talk about one of the distinguishing features of React – its reusable components. 

You probably understand that every new software application is created using fundamental and often standardised architectural patterns, system design and approaches. Only after that, adding customisation comes into play.

As a result, if the fundamental standard is made reusable, developers can save time by not reinventing the wheel. Plus, reusability is a really crucial aspect of software development as it saves you costs, time and effort, while at the same time ensuring developers’ productivity and easier testing. 

One Way Data Flow 

As the term already suggests, one way or unidirectional data flow, unlike bidirectional data flow, only flows in one direction, namely from ‘top’ to ‘bottom’. In the opposite direction, only events that are triggered by the user via actions in the UI are passed on – e.g. by clicking on buttons “Save”, “Purchase”, or something else. These events are usually passed up until they arrive in a component that manages a partial state of the application. 

There, based on the event, a new state is calculated from the current state, which is then passed on from there to all subcomponents. Due to the unidirectional data flow, connections and interactions of an application can be viewed very well since the information flow runs exclusively in these described paths. In addition, components can be reused very easily thanks to standardised interfaces for data and events.

React is Integrated with JavaScript 

The close integration of React with JavaScript can definitely be considered as another of its advantages. For instance, unlike the case with Vue.js or Angular, there is no proprietary way in React to create a loop, condition or data binding. Instead, React just utilises JavaScript structures, which is why working with React helps developers become better at JavaScript in general – and vice versa.

In contrast to this, Vue.js and Angular developers need to use only framework-specific, proprietary procedures that they can’t apply outside of the respective framework. This additional flexibility is one more reason why you should consider React web development for your next business project. 

Author Biography Aleksandrina Vasileva 

Aleksandrina is a Content Creator at Dreamix, a custom software development company, and is keen on innovative technological solutions with a positive impact on our world. Her teaching background, mixed with interests in psychology, drives her to share knowledge. She is an avid reader and an enthusiastic blogger, always looking for the next inspiration.