Frameworks and Programming Languages - What you need to know
Over the last 3 years, I have built many websites and web apps for POLARIS clients. When working within a B2B SEO Agency, understanding programming to suit different clientele is crucial. Due to requirements varying greatly, choosing the correct framework or programming language can make all the difference. This is especially true when optimising for performance, usability, and ease of content management.
Below are some of the frameworks and programming languages I have made use of:
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular content management system today, with an estimated 20% of all self-hosted websites being powered by it. It is easy to see why this is the case – not only is WordPress free to use, it also comes with lots of extensions known as “plugins” that allow you to add all kinds of extra functionality to your site.
At POLARIS we are all about performance optimisation. As such, we prefer to build WordPress site layouts (also known as themes) from the ground up, instead of relying on pre-built one’s. Doing so allows us to create sites that are blazing fast and search engine friendly.
We use WordPress primarily to build brochure and ecommerce type websites. Examples include the following websites https://www.polarisagency.com/ https://www.locks4.com/ and https://www.themarketors.com/.
React
React is a JavaScript library, created by Facebook that is used for building user interfaces. Many of Facebook’s own products are built using React. It was initially released 7 years ago and since then has become extremely popular among developers.
If a client wanted us to develop a web app for them that had a desktop type of feel, React would likely be our first choice when building the front-end. This is due to its speed, ease of use and friendly community support.
React also has a cousin known as React Native, which comes in handy when building apps for iOS and Android smartphones.
Node.js
Node.js is often used to develop the backend of web applications. It is extremely efficient and allows programmers to build custom API’s that feed data to all sorts of web, mobile and desktop applications.
As it is open-source, thousands of talented developers have created all kinds of software extensions (known as Node packages). These packages are optimized for performance and security. For instance, instead of having to write the code for a web server from the ground up, developers can use a popular package known as Express.js to get a web server up and running in minutes.
An example of where we would use Node.js would be when building the backend for a real-time chat or video conferencing application.
Laravel & Django
Laravel is a PHP framework that is used for building bespoke web applications. For example, if one wanted to create a reporting dashboard with sign up, login and email functionality that also fetches data from external API’s, Laravel would be a great choice.
Django is quite similar to Laravel, however it is built using the Python programming language. Many of the world’s most popular internet services such as Instagram, Pinterest and Trivago use Django as a backbone, which proves how robust of a framework it is.
Conclusion
At POLARIS, we are constantly evolving and make it a point to keep up to date with the latest in tech. Therefore, you can rest assured that any website or web application we build for you will be well architected and make use of the best technology. For further information around how we can help your business, feel free to get in touch with the team.
Polaris is an award-winning B2B SEO agency in London specialising B2B, PPC, e-commerce and the healthcare industry.
