Front-end framework research

Context

The goal of this research is to answer the following research question:

Which front-end framework is best suited for building a webshop?

Answering this question means I need to figure out which options are available, and which option is best suited for my needs.
To do this, I will be using the literature study and trend analysis methods.

Results

I looked at popular existing web frameworks by referencing the StackOverflow 2023 Developer Survey and online articles. I compared these frameworks by listing their pros and cons to see which framework is the best choice for me.

Most popular web frameworks – Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023

From the Stack Overflow 2023 Developer Survey, online articles about frameworks and the official documentation of each framework, I was able to decide on which framework suits this project best. To see the pros and cons of each framework, please refer to the full research document.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, I have chosen to opt for Shopify’s Hydrogen framework (based on Remix), for a number of reasons:

• It is based on Remix (React), which means I have access to all of React/Remix’s features and broad community of developers.
• It has integrated tools for Shopify API’s, as it was made by Shopify. Instead of having to write a lot of custom code to accomplish simple Shopify connections, this is already done for me.
• It is literally designed for this exact purpose. That means my development experience will be catered towards what I want to achieve, and should mean that my development experience is significantly better than when using a framework that was meant for something such as static websites. This also means that it should be the easiest or fastest way to build a headless front-end for Shopify websites.
• It is a fairly new technology, and I have never worked with either Remix or Hydrogen. I do already have experience with React and Next.js, so using Hydrogen will not only expand my knowledge about Hydrogen and Shopify, but also about the Remix framework, which is knowledge that I value very much.

Learning outcomes

4: Investigative Problem Solving

By researching and analysing multiple frameworks and their pros and cons, I show that I can come to valid conclusions backed by research.