If you are developing your website using WordPress, you can easily customize it as both frontend and backend are already included in it. However, you can use a framework to create particular themes and elements you want to apply to your website. In general, you can power your website or web app using a WordPress backend and a framework as the frontend. There are several frontend frameworks that work well with WordPress development.

In this article, we are going to review what frameworks that are suitable for WordPress.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is the leading content management system (CMS) platform extensively used in different types of websites worldwide. A CMS is a system that helps you manage some digital data. For example, if you’re gonna open a blog for yourself, you only need to pay attention to write new posts, update old posts, moderate comments, and more. You don’t need to concern yourself with the low-level details like frontend and backend development as WordPress already handles both of them. Just like any typical web app, the backend part consists of PHP and MySQL while the frontend consists of CSS, Javascript, HTML.

Even though you can use themes available in WordPress plugins or others, using a frontend framework to develop your WordPress appearance can help you in many ways. Starting from the ease of updates, neat code, security, responsiveness, there are other advantages compared to the WordPress standalone themes. 

What Is the Frontend Framework?

A frontend is the interface of the website with which the users see and interact. You can refer to it as the ‘client side’ of the application. Thus, a frontend framework is a framework to build the frontend layer of websites, web applications, or mobile apps. Read more

Why Should I Use WordPress Frameworks?

WordPress works with numerous JavaScript, PHP, and other frameworks for frontend and backend applications. Effective development and customization of themes and APIs for WordPress can be done through frontend frameworks, like jQuery, Node.JS, ReactJS, Bootstrap, and AngularJS frameworks.

The advantages of using a framework are easy for updates and development, neat-coded, secure, responsive, and many more.

Read more: What Is Web Framework?

Pros of Framework

Ease of development and updates

Using a framework can reduce the development time and make switching themes easier, as well as eliminate the risk of losing all your styling and code changes when theme updates are pushed out.

Robust Code

A well-coded framework will adhere to the WordPress coding standards and it will be compatible with well-written plugins. Therefore, it’s better to choose a framework that has a large user and community base to provide you with robust codes.

Neat-coded

Developing applications or websites without a framework tend to create more programs. As a consequence, the more programs are written, the slower the debugging process. Therefore, having a framework can make the program more structured so that you can easily find the code that needs to be fixed. 

Secure

Most frameworks are safe from security vulnerabilities. In addition to that, the framework is also constantly updated to offer new features and address bugs that minimize framework security vulnerabilities.

Support

Most theme frameworks include support from the theme developer or from a community of users, or in some cases a combination of both. Before committing to a framework, be sure to check the support and the extra cost.

However, using a framework also has extra efforts to master which can be a downside.

Cons of Framework

Learning Curve

WordPress frameworks are more complex in their nature than regular themes. Each framework has its own learning curve. Therefore, you have to get familiar with their terminology first before using them.

Unnecessary Code

Some frameworks come with excessive built-in functionality. This may impact the process of developing using one.

Framework Limitations

In some cases, frameworks can be limiting. If you need particular customization, you might have to turn to a developer and have him override the core files to achieve it. Another approach is to submit a request for a particular feature or submit a patch of your own and have it included in future updates.

Price

There are some free WordPress frameworks out there, however, the level of support cannot be compared to a premium framework. With that in mind, the pricing can vary greatly between different frameworks.

TOP 3 FRONTEND FRAMEWORKS FOR WORDPRESS

React

React was developed by Facebook to create a high-performance and efficient UI. It’s based on JavaScript and allows users to create web UI with dynamic HTML components. It helps you develop very powerful and interactive web interfaces.

It stands out because of its virtual Document Object Model (DOM), which offers exceptional functionality. React is an ideal framework for those who anticipate high traffic and need a stable platform to handle it. Therefore, some big companies like Twitter, Pinterest, Netflix, and Udemy use React. 

Pros

• Reusable components
• Consistent and seamless performance
• Advanced and very useful React dev tools
• Has large global community

Cons

• Frontend only
• The learning curve is a bit tough for beginners (the concept of mixing templating with logic (JSX) can be confusing)
• Too much focus on core libraries

We have done a review of one of the best React-based frameworks, Frontity – Easiest Way to Take Your WordPress Project to the Next Level in 2021

Angular

Angular is created based on TypeScript, a comprehensive frontend framework by Google. It is a very powerful JavaScript platform for developing Restful APIs on the WordPress CMS platform. It offers a huge library of functions and supports numerous features. A few important features supported by the Angular JS framework include DOM decoupling, Model-View-Controller MVC, POJO model, single page application routing, two-way data binding, and many others.

You can consider Angular as one of the most comprehensive frontend frameworks ever, as it allows you to tackle complicated tasks within the framework itself. There’s no need for additional libraries in developing complex UI/UX. Compared to React, Angular is not easy to learn. Even though there is innumerable documentation available, they are either too complex or confusing to read.

Pros

• In-built functionality to update the changes made in model to the view and so does vice-versa
• Reduces the number of codes 
• Strong support for building and handling dynamic forms.
• Components are reusable and easy to manage using the dependency injection
• Has wide community for learning and support

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Limited SEO options
• Don’t perform well sometimes because of their complex structure and size

Vuejs

Vue is a very popular JavaScript framework created by Evan You to remove the complexities that Angular developers face. It is simple and versatile, allowing developers to tackle dynamic processes without the need for additional libraries. With this, you can develop very powerful and interactive web interfaces. Therefore, it is suitable for the modern front-end development on the WordPress platform.

There are many useful features in Vue JS, including virtual DOM, effective data binding, great animation, and transition. n addition to that, it also has a 2-way binding. Moreover, you can deploy its code easily on WordPress to create a great user experience. Some of the companies that use Vue JS are Alibaba, 9gag, Reuters, and Xiaomi.

Actually, there are other frontend frameworks that can work with WordPress, such as Bootstrap, jQuery, Emberjs, Backbonejs, Semantic UI, Foundation, and more. You can read other framework examples here.

Conclusion

You can develop your WordPress using a frontend framework. Some advantages you get by using a framework are ease of updates & development, neat-coded, robust codes, security, and has a wide community for learning and support. There are several frontend frameworks that work great with WordPress, mainly React, Angular, and Vue JS. We already review one of the best React-based frameworks, Frontity. However, before choosing the right frameworks for you, please consider their learning curve, price, and features limitations.

References

• What Is Web Framework? Frontend vs Backend vs UI – Artistudio
• WordPress: Which Frontend Frameworks? – Business Bloomer
• Best Frontend Frameworks of 2021 for Web Development – Simform
• Here Are the Best Practices: Frontend Frameworks For Your Web Product – Up Tech
• 5 WordPress Frameworks We Love – Digital.com