Flutter for web development: a hype beast or a silver bullet for website development
The network is broken. You read that right, it’s no secret that the web has now become so complicated as multiple framework applications fight for the web developer’s attention. Some might argue that it’s easier to get familiar with the code than it is to decide which framework apps to use.
That includes Evgeny Kot, director of development at Wrike, who said Tech Radar Pro at the recent WebExpo event that there should be a single framework that helps coders simplify Web development.
As is, HTML, CSSY javascriptThe three main languages used to create websites are everywhere: in mobile apps, desktop apps, smart devices of all shapes and sizes, and even in “AAA” PC/console games.
A programmer’s web dream
A typical implementation of a website sees JavaScript as the programming language, with HTML used to structure the site and CSS for the layout and presentation of the web page.
While those three apps work fine for the most part, Kot praised Flutteran open source framework created by Google that is intended to be the ultimate framework for client code.
“You can write an app or code base for Android, iOS, web, desktop, Windows MacOS and Linux embedded systems. You can create user client code for almost all popular platforms. It uses DART, a language created by Google ten years ago, as its main language,” added Kot.
“When Flutter first started, it was mainly used for Android and iOS development, but now Flutter is more than that: you can write code for every platform, including the web.”
However, Flutter isn’t right for everyone, especially when it comes to SEO, and one of the main drawbacks of the tool is that the framework still has to align the output of apps.
“The challenges Flutter faced in the early stages of its development are the same for almost all young frameworks,” Kot explained.
“People who develop mobile apps in native code, like Android and iOS developers, are a bit conservative in terms of creating cross-platform code. In the past, other developers who have tried to do this have failed miserably because there is always a compromise when it comes to delivering the highest quality on both platforms.”
web trends
Simple website building tasks have already started to stifle the need for web developers, although Knot doesn’t seem too concerned, noting that more complex site building tasks further up the pyramid will no doubt still need coders. .
“In the future, people will create simple websites without any knowledge of the website building industry, but we will still get more complex websites. An example of this is Project Fugue, a project that covers web APIs,” she says.
According to GitHub (opens in a new tab)Fugue is a unified interface for distributed computing that allows users to run Python, pandas, and SQL code in Spark and Dask without rewrites.
“Right now in browsers you can use USB, Bluetooth, file management and other APIs, so we see how web developers can do everything without the need for C++ developers to create an application that uses USB” Kot adds.
One of the recurring themes at WebExpo 2022 was the idea that the framework war is no more.
“Four or five years ago, React, Angular, and other desktop and mobile web app providers were all competing for the title of best framework, but now, I don’t see that competition happening in the space anymore,” he says.
Don’t forget accessibility
As the race to become the number one framework fades, new competition has emerged in the web space.
The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in organizations being taken to court over accessibility issues on their websites and mobile apps.
“Accessibility has become a default trend, not only because of its extreme importance, but also because there are many laws in Europe to ensure that websites are accessible to everyone,” explained Kot.
“Right now, most of the laws are directed at government sites, but I think in the years to come we will see more websites built to follow accessibility rules. If sites don’t want to do it voluntarily, they will soon have to because it’s the law.”
Web Vitals, the set of metrics created by Google, is also empowering developers to build faster, more accessible apps.
For example, if you search for a web hosting A service that scores low on Lighthouse, a free tool that provides powerful insights to help you improve your website, is likely to rank much lower in search engine results.
Another example demonstrated at WebExpo came from Livesport, a Czech technology company that is well aware of the dangers of having a slow website and mobile app. Its Flashscore network, developed in 2006, delivers live scores online across more than 400 servers with a 30 Gbit/s data stream that is largely automated for speed.
“Web developers are forced to write more accessible, faster and lighter code. On the technical side, Webassembly is finally getting garbage collection, for which I hope more languages will be built on top of that and we’ll have a faster web. WebAssembly can be used anywhere. It’s not tied to the nature of JavaScript,” Kot explained.
“Typescript, while not a trend, is used by a lot of people these days and so I predict that in the future, we may see the merger of Typescript and Javascript.”
What about website builders?
The evolution of website builder From Geocities, founded in 1994 and launched to promulgate standards for web design just four years after HTML was first developed, to the wide range of drag-and-drop builder providers available today, it’s easy to conclude that the coding can be a thing of the past. past.
In fact Kot said Tech Radar Pro that when he was finishing his college degree 15 years ago, his professor told the class that they would be the last generation to write code because they would all use drag and drop squares on templates to create websites.
“That’s not happening right now, but on the web, I see a lot of companies that were doing these one-page portfolio sites, now they can build them on Tilda, Wix, or many other website building platforms, without any knowledge of computer coding or programming,” he explained.
As the online world moves towards making site creation less complex, centralized, and all under a single, high-functioning framework, the fact is that web development as an industry will continue to iron out the kinks for a smoother user experience. .
