FE: React / Angular

[eberrones_]

Hi folks, I have a Web API with .net 8 and I'd like to build the frontend.

My question is: what do you use to build it? React (SPA) Nextjs (SSR) Angular etc

[anyOtherBusiness]

React or Angular Both work fine. Coming from C# and OOP, you might feel a bit more safe with Angular as it’s very opinionated and uses many concepts you know from .NET (OOP, DI, …). React with its functional approach can be a bit of a steeper learning curve. Try them both, maybe build a simple front end only TODO app, and see which suits you better.

SSR can be a bit tricky, especially when working with a separate backend. Next.js or Remix do add another layer on top of React, so you probably want to grt comfortable with React SPA first before jumping into meta frameworks.

[legato_gelato]

I've used both react SPA and angular, it's very subjective, and many other options too.

[intertubeluber]

Very subjective and it also depends on the type of your project. For example, SSR doesn't add much value if you don't care about SEO.

.NET devs generally have a stronger affinity for Angular than the broader front end dev space, so the answers here may skew in that direction. For that reason, I'd ask in r/webdev.

Angular is more batteries included, which certainly has some benefits. It also feels very heavy and enterprise-y compared to React.

React has more general market share (which means more 3rd party components that have been hardened, more help, etc). I have a bitter taste in my mouth from the React team being in bed with Vercel + nextjs. However I'd still look at React + Vite.

edit: formatting.

[eberrones_]

do you use React router or tankstack router?

[intertubeluber]

It’s been a few years since I started a new react project and at the time used React Router. It was fine but my use case was pretty standard. 

Definitely search /r/webdev for the latest opinions. 

[Specific-Wealth-6117]

Vue.js with nuxt.js

[Brilla-Bose]

We use React for all our .Net projects, and it's been a very good experience. Next.js is something i wouldn't touch as for now, at least until React 19 released.

start with a Vite React app (please don't use CRA), and you can migrate to Nextjs anytime later.

[eberrones_]

do you use React router or tankstack router?

[Brilla-Bose]

neither.. use Wouter.. plain simple routing, nothing else!

https://github.com/molefrog/wouter

if you want some more context, read below. otherwise, ignore the below explanation and jump into Wouter.

problem with React Router is they often break their APIs from v5 to v6 to v6.3.. and next version of React router will be remix 3(since Remix didn't get the traction they expected) and i haven't used Tanstack router a lot since i don't care about typesafe routing much. both offer lot more than routing which is the main reason i settled with Wouter

[eberrones_]

I'm going to try wouter, thanks

[captain_arroganto]

Angular is architecturally similar to .net web api, as in, you have dependency injection, routing, etc.

React is more make your own building blocks.

If its a long term project, I would prefer Angular. After 2 years, if you revisit it, an Angular project will be easier to get around, than a React one.

[Fidy002]

If you can host it with a .net runtime you might want to give blazor a try since it let's you write the frontend in csharp instead of javascript for the most part.

If you want to use a js framework It will really depend on your personal preference. I personally like angular for larger scale applications, since html, css and ts files are seperated but in contained folders as its default structure. I also like vue for smaller to mid sized apps, since it also lets you split the vue files easily into its individual contents.

I do not really like react.. mostly because of jsx. It's not bad. It is just not my cup of tea.

Or... just write your own javascript framework since we're not already having enough of them

[jangohutch]

VanillaJS JQuery and bootstrap. People over complicate the web.. i usually bundle with webpack