5 Extremely Helpful JS Libraries
JavaScript libraries are an incredibly powerful and efficient way to make your code cleaner, and save you time in the process. I picked out 5of the libraries I used on my most recent project that saved me countless hours and frustration. These libraries range from styling help all the way to new functionality.
- Moment.js
Working with date and time can be a nightmare in JS, like having to parse through the Unix time stamp to get the element that you want, can be frustrating to spend so much time on such a small detail on your site. Moment makes it very simple and allows you to display formatted times and dates with just one simple line of code. There are methods for current time, time elapsed, time between two calendar dates, and so on.
2. Slick
Slick is an incredibly responsive, infinitely looping carousel for your website. There are tons of options and cool animations to choose from. As it says on the website its the last carousel you’ll ever need. In addition to how powerful and impressive it is, it’s also very easy to implement.
3. Anime.js
A stunning JS animation library, that is very simple to use but so impressive when you use it in your projects. Additionally, this library is very popular so it has extensive documentation, which makes it even easier to create a simple yet impressive UI.
4. Multiple.js
If you have trouble filling in white space like me, this library is great for you. It adds a background across multiple elements on your site as well as organizes each element based on the size of the content. There are many variations to choose from which can give a very unique look to your website.
5. Masonry
Much like the formatting tool above, Masonry is a grid layout tool that makes organizing your website a breeze. It creates a template based on the amount of elements you have and the size of these elements, like stones in a wall. Masonry has the perfect blend of structured formatting and customizability, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time tinkering with your layout, but you can also change some things if needed.
I think its very important to be up to date with these libraries because they can be very useful tools and save you a lot of time. Most of the code that you want to write is already somewhere on the internet, you just have to know where to find it. It would take the average developer a very very long time to create these features manually, but thankfully these libraries make it so that everything you need can be done in just a few lines of code.
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