10 Key Reasons Why You Should Use React for Web Development

One of the most significant pain points many businesses face is the need for responsive and scalable web applications that can handle high traffic and user interactions. According to the Google report, 53% of mobile users will abandon an application that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. React can help here by providing a fast and efficient framework for building high-performance web applications.

In this article, we'll give the top 10 reasons you should use React for web development. From its performance and scalability to its vast ecosystem of tools and libraries, we'll cover everything you need to know to make informed decisions about using React for your next web development project.

So, let's get started!

What is React.js

React has quickly become one of the most widely used frameworks for building modern web applications, according to Statista, with 40.6% of respondents reporting using it.

React is a JavaScript library developed by Facebook that, among other things, was used to build Instagram.com. It aims to allow developers to easily create user interfaces for websites, desktop apps and mobile applications. A React application usually works fast and efficiently.

The main concept of React.js is virtual DOM (Document Object Model). It is a tree based on JavaScript components created with React that mimics a DOM tree. It does the least amount of DOM manipulation possible to keep your React components up to date. This leads to better performance, as the DOM updates are usually the main performance bottleneck when rendering UI with Javascript.

As of 2024, 3,740,236 live websites in the USA use React for their front-end frameworks. The United Kingdom takes the second position with 2,235,462 websites using React.

Initially, React was deployed by Facebook in 2011 and integrated into Instagram in 2012. Today, React is being used on the homepages and other web pages of Netflix, Airbnb, WhatsApp Web, Discord, Imgur, Bleacher Report, Feedly, SeatGeek, HelloSign, and many others.

The prevalence of websites built with React.js underscores React's dominance, widespread adoption, and developer preference in the American and British markets.

Why Use React.js for Web Development?

As it was mentioned above, world-leading companies have used React and other JavaScript library technologies in many of the top market-defining products.

Being an extension of the JavaScript programming language, React brings many advantages. Products built with React are simple to scale, and, what is convenient, a single language simultaneously used on the server/client/mobile side of things, resulting in outstanding productivity. Also, there are workflow patterns for convenient teamwork, and a readable and maintainable user interface code. These are only several benefits of using React for web development. Keep reading and get to know more of them!

So, let’s take a closer look at 10 reasons to use React.js summarized by our CTO, Andrew Kuzmych. You'll learn why and when you should use React to tackle the most fitting goals and achieve outstanding results.

Reason 1: Mature, simple-to-grasp dev workflow

One of the significant reasons to use React.js for web development is the library’s ultimately optimized development interface and coding language. Thus, React's lightweight API is reinforced with fast performance capacities to achieve a hassle-free, rapid development workflow. React components and concepts are simple to figure out, so there is not much of a learning curve here, but yet there are plenty of concepts, APIs, and ecosystems to get deeper into.

Unlike other popular frameworks, like Vue and Angular, React does not create a barrage of extra HTML attributes (created when JavaScript is “crammed” into HTML — a standard practice for traditional frameworks and JS library solutions).

In the long run, by putting JSX into JavaScript (literally going the other way round), React grants much cleaner, better readable, and more comprehensive code.

Reason 2: Ultimate flexibility and compatibility

Using React.js for web development may be extremely convenient because React is one of those cases where you get the hang of a single technology and easily reuse it across a range of platforms. This is all due to it being a natural library, with the primary purpose of creating separate web design elements and components (anything from buttons and labels to grids and interactive features).

Another reason why React is a top choice for web development is the extensive, long-established community that supports it. This community has contributed significantly to React’s current ecosystem, which is so vast that it enables developers to create desktop solutions, mobile applications, static websites, handle server rendering, and integrate advanced tech concepts with web solutions.

Reason 3: Hassle-free reusability of components

The common question is: What is React.js mainly used for in web development? The answer is – for creating standalone, and self-sufficient components. A React component is the building block of a React application. It enables developers to create a reusable, isolated piece of UI that can be efficiently managed and updated.

And this is exactly why created components can be easily reused. Once you’ve created a React.js web application element, you get a unique object that can be added to any other project compatible with the React-based code.

While a bigger general hierarchy is built out of those components (which are wrapped into higher-level components), each has a separate dedicated internal logic and rendering principle. This grants outstanding scaling opportunities helps to achieve much better React web app consistency, and makes further support and optimization a piece of cake.

Reason 4: High performance reinforced by Virtual DOM

By virtualizing and keeping DOM in memory, React grants outstandingly fast rendering capacities with all view changes readily reflected in the virtual DOM. The specialized diff algorithm juxtaposes former and existing virtual DOM states, calculating the most efficient way to apply new changes without requiring too many updates. A minimum number of updates is then introduced to achieve the fastest read/write time, which results in an overall performance boost.

DOM changes make systems slow, and by virtualizing DOM, those changes are minimized and optimized intelligently. All the virtual DOM manipulations happen “behind the scenes,” i.e., internally and autonomously, which also allows for significant save hardware resource-consumption rates (CPU power and battery in mobile devices, for instance, which should give you a hint as to when to use React.js as well).

Still not convinced? Keep reading, and you’ll find more reasons to use React.js.

Reason 5: Powers of Flux and Redux

The Flux and Redux capacities React offers out-of-the-box dictate the special demand for it in web development. The creators of Facebook first introduced the Flux-based software architecture, which enhanced standard React components with unidirectional data flow capacities and offered a more optimal structure of actions.

The central dispatcher plays a crucial role in orchestrating created actions and updating stores. It then updates the views according to store changes, ensuring that all data remains in stores - no duplicates are generated. This helps keep all model data well-synced throughout the application without going far.

However, Flux is only an architectural pattern used in the front end for a convenient UI design workflow; it cannot be used as a full-on library. Here’s where Redux comes in as a convenient Flux implementation. In particular, it offers a single store object to handle all app data, making underlying data management manipulations simple and hassle-free. Renders are triggered upon store changes, while the view keeps syncing with the related data.

Reason 6: Extensive toolset available

Our specialists explain why we use React JS for web development by highlighting an exemplary toolset and tech stack. React Developer Tools and Redux Development Tools offer extremely convenient capacities, and you can easily install and use them as regular Chrome extensions.

Specifically, with their help, you can efficiently inspect React-based hierarchy components (including related props and states), check dispatch actions, and view state changes immediately in the extension, which can also be recorded and used as a backup for debugging in the future. Also, with content management tools for marketers, your website can be created or expanded hosting, visual editing tools, and others.

Redux Development Tools also provide a “time travel” capability, which allows you to move forward and backward through the state of your application as if you were watching your user interactions in reverse.

Reason 7: Powers of React Native

You may say: “All of that is great, but why use React for web development in more progressive projects? Would it fit my needs if I am about to launch a native or hybrid app development project?” This is where React Native comes in as a true game-changer that opens up for native and hybrid mobile app development for iOS and Android. Naturally, you lose certain code reusability opportunities, but only in favor of proper native performance and system management.

Building a one-size-fits-all app can be cheaper. You can also go hybrid for more custom results, using a single codebase for somewhat different solutions created for separate operating environments.

Reason 8: Vast community and market-defining resources

React, one of the top 5 repositories on GitHub, is pushed by some of the most extensive communities and is preferred by several Fortune 500 companies (including Netflix, Uber, Amazon, and Airbnb, among others).

At the same time, it is actively supported by specialists working directly on Facebook's software system, which alone should be a sufficient reason to use React.js for web development.

You get to use more than well-tried-and-tested elements that lay at the heart of the most prominent software solution in the world. You can even check a dedicated blog where Facebook developers share insights and updates.

Reason 9: JSX syntax for extended HTML

With React.js, you may utilize the declarative HTML syntax directly in JavaScript code. Browsers decode HTML texts to show the user interface. They do it by building DOM trees, which can then be manipulated using JavaScript to create interactive UI.

React.js enables developers to manipulate DOMs by manifolds more efficiently using JSX. By passing HTML and React.js components into the browser's tree structures, developers can build tidy, maintainable code.

The real excitement comes from the speed and efficiency of React.js apps, thanks to JSX and the Virtual DOM. This performance boost is sure to make any developer eager to try it out.

Moreover, the flexibility of JSX allows for the utilization of other frameworks and libraries, adding even more excitement to the mix.

Reason 10: React hooks

React hooks simplify state management and other React features in functional components, making your code more readable and maintainable. With hooks like useState and useEffect, handling component state and side effects becomes straightforward, reducing boilerplate code. Custom hooks promote code reuse and modularity, leading to cleaner codebases.

They also improve performance by minimizing the overhead of class components. You won't have to cope with any more difficult classes. Hooks make it simple to manage state logic between components, group comparable logic into a single component, and transfer data between components that don't have props or classes.

Overall, React hooks enhance productivity and efficiency, which says a lot in favor of deciding why to use React for web application development.

When to Use React?

So how do you know when to use React for your next web development project? Here are some use cases where React can provide significant value:

Complex user interfaces

React excels at handling complex user interfaces with ease. Suppose your web application has many dynamic and interactive elements, such as real-time updates or data visualization. In that case, React can help you build a responsive and seamless user experience.

Large-scale applications

React's component-based architecture is not just about scalability, it's also about flexibility. It allows you to create modular and reusable code that can be adapted to your business's changing needs. This makes React an excellent choice for developing large-scale applications that demand maintainability, scalability, and flexibility.

High-performance applications

React's efficient rendering system and optimized virtual DOM allow it to handle large amounts of data and complex user interfaces without sacrificing performance.

Cross-platform applications

React can be used to build web, mobile, and desktop applications, making it a versatile framework for cross-platform development. React Native, a framework based on React is specifically designed for mobile app development, while React Desktop allows you to create desktop applications using web technologies.

TechMagic Experience: Projects Where We Used React

As you already know, React.js uses are quite extensive and universal. This is why we have been using the library for many projects and underlying purposes throughout the years of operation in the field. But let’s look at the two major React.js use cases from our in-house experience.

A gamified recruitment platform Good&Co

Today, it is quite difficult for companies and entrepreneurs to find and recruit the best-fitting, truly reliable, and long-term promising candidates for a specific line of work, especially in the globally prevailing remote work conditions. This is why our client set off to build a dedicated platform that would analyze human archetypes in an engaging, motivating way, helping workforce seekers better pick candidates based on universal scores.

As a React.js development company, we have used React to create user-friendly quiz widgets. These widgets, which function as an “express job opening quiz” online, are integrated with job board websites. In total, we have developed over 10 interactive widgets, ensuring their secure integration with third-party websites and making them easily embeddable into pages.

An e-learning application for sales specialists

Fortune 500 companies are famous for their high quality and workflow consistency demands in the global market. This is why the requirements for this project were respective. In particular, we aimed to build a SaaS video education platform with high scalability potential that would be used by high-grade EU- and US-based companies experiencing low-latency video streaming issues.

React, a powerful tool, played a crucial role in enhancing the capabilities of AWS Lambda, the cornerstone of our project. This strategic use of React allowed us to adopt a segmented approach, ensuring streamlined scalability and reinforcing our confidence in the project's technical prowess.

Conclusion

React.js stands out as a premier choice for web development due to its simplicity, low learning curve, lightweight API, flexibility, component reusability, and high performance with the Virtual DOM. It streamlines data flow management with Flux and Redux, offers an extensive toolset for debugging, and supports both native and hybrid mobile app development through React Native.

The strong community backing, JSX syntax for maintainable code, and simplified state management with React Hooks further enhance its appeal, making React.js an optimal solution for developing scalable and efficient applications.

At TechMagic, we believe JavaScript frameworks can revolutionize software development. We are proud that TechMagic is on the list of React careers, the open-source directory of companies using React.js.

Are you still trying to figure out why or when to use React.js for web development? Or looking for a professional development team to develop your project using React? Our experts from TechMagic are here to clarify all the related details. We have profiled expertise and skills honed by years of operating in the field, so don’t hesitate to contact us.

FAQ

1. Why is React.js popular for web development?

   React.js is common to use because it is clear, flexible, and effective. It provides fast rendering, reusable components, and robust community reinforcement.

2. What are the main features of React.js?

   Dominant characteristics are JSX syntax, a virtual DOM for efficient updates, component-based architecture, and unidirectional data flow.

3. How does React.js improve performance?

   React.js enhances performance in the way that it uses a virtual DOM to limit exposure to the real DOM. This results in rapid updates and rendering.

4. What is JSX in React.js?

   It is a JavaScript syntax extension. It enables writing HTML-like code within JavaScript. It makes it simpler to design and administer UI components.

5. How does React.js handle data flow?

   React.js relies on a unidirectional flow. It means that data moves in one direction, so it is simpler to debug and get aware of the application condition.

6. What are the advantages of using React.js by developers?

   The benefits of building user interfaces using the React library include a simplified acquisition process, high productivity, component multi-use, powerful community support, and simple adaptation to other platforms and libraries.