How to Become FrontEnd Masters for 2020
This wtg guide will be helpful whether you are new to front end programming or already an experienced developer. In this industry learning new concepts and languages & frameworks is mandatory to keep up with the rapid changes. Take for example React – open-sourced by Facebook just a shy 4 years ago it already became the number one choice for JavaScript devs around the globe. But also Vue and Angular of course have their legitimate follower-base. And then there is Svelte, and universal frameworks like Next.js or Nuxt.js, and Gatsby, and Gridsome, and Quasar, and and and. If you want to shine as an expert JavaScript developer you should at least have some experience in different frameworks and libraries – besides doing your homework with good, old JS.
In helping you become Frontend Masters for 2020 we’ve listed several projects, each with a distinct topic and a different JavaScript framework or library as tech stack that you can build and add to your portfolio. Remember, nothing helps you more than actually building stuff so go ahead, sharpen your mind and make this happen!
Build a movie search app using React (with hooks)
The first thing you could start with is building a movie search app using React. Above is an image of how the final app will look like.
What you will learn
Building this application you will improve your React Skills using the relatively new Hooks API. The example projects makes use of React components, many hooks, an external api and of course some styling via CSS.
Tech Stack & Features
- React with Hooks
- create-react-app
- JSX
- CSS
Using no classes this projects gives you a perfect entry point into functional react and will definitely help you in 2020. You can find the example project here: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-movie-search-app-using-react-hooks-24eb72ddfaf7/
Follow along with the tutorial or give it your own flavor!
Build a chat app with Vue
Another great project for you is to build a chat app using my favorite JavaScript library VueJS. The app will look something like this:
What you will learn
Following this tutorial you will learn how to setup a Vue app from scratch, creating components, handling state, creating route, connecting to a third party service and even handling authentication.
Tech Stack & Features
- Vue
- Vuex
- Vue Router
- Vue CLI
- Pusher
- CSS
This is really a great project to get started with Vue or to improve your existing skills to tackle development in 2020. You can find the tutorial right here: https://www.sitepoint.com/pusher-vue-real-time-chat-app/
Build a beautiful weather app with Angular 8
This example will help you to build a beautiful weather app using Google’s Angular 8:
What you will learn
This project will teach you valuable skills such while creating an application from scratch, starting with design over development all the way to a production ready deployment.
Tech Stack & Features
- Angular 8
- Firebase
- Server-Side Rendering
- CSS with Grid Layout and Flexbox
- Mobile friendly & responsive
- Dark Mode
- Beautiful UI
What we really, really like about this comprehensive project is that you do not learn things in isolation but the whole development process from the design to the final deployment. You should really do this one!
https://medium.com/@hamedbaatour/build-a-real-world-beautiful-web-app-with-angular-6-a-to-z-ultimate-guide-2018-part-i-e121dd1d55e
Build a to-do app with Svelte
Svelte kinda is the new kid on the block compared to React, Vue and Angular but nonetheless one of the hotties for 2020. Okay, To-Do apps are not necessarily the hottest topic out there but this will really help you to sharpen you Svelte skills and look like this:
What you will learn
This tutorial will show you how to make an app using Svelte 3 from start to finish. It makes use of components, styling and event handlers
Tech Stack & Features
- Svelte 3
- Components
- Styling via CSS
- ES 6 syntax
There aren’t that many good Svelte starter projects out there so we find this one to be kinda good to start with. And who knows, maybe you are the one creating another, more comprehensive Svelte tutorial that will be presented in the next year’s version of this post?
https://medium.com/codingthesmartway-com-blog/building-a-svelte-3-todo-app-from-start-to-deployment-1737f72c23a6
Build an e-commerce shopping cart with Next.js
NextJs is the most popular framework for creating React applications that support server-side rendering out of the box. This project will show you how to build an e-commerce shopping cart looking like this:
What you will learn
In this project you will learn how to setup a Next.js development environment, create new pages and components, fetch data, style and deploy a next application.
Tech Stack & Features
- Next.js
- Components and Pages
- Data Fetching
- Styling
- Deployment
- SSR and SPA
It is always great to have a real world example such as an e-commerce showcase to learn something new. You can find the tutorial here:
https://snipcart.com/blog/next-js-ecommerce-tutorial
Build a full blown multi-language blog website Nuxt.js
Nuxt.js is to Vue what Next.js is to react. A great framework to combine the power of server-side rendering and single-page applications. The final app that you could create will look like this:
What you will learn
This example project will teach you how to build a full blown website using Nuxt.js from the initial setup to the final deployment. It makes use of many of the cool features Nuxt has to offer like pages and components as well as styling with SCSS.
Tech Stack & Features
- Nuxt.js
- Components and Pages
- Storyblok module
- Mixins
- Vuex for state management
- SCSS for styling
- Nuxt middlewares
This is a really cool project for you and covers many of the great features of Nuxt.js. We personally love working with Nuxt so you should really try this one out as it will also make you a better Vue developer!
https://www.storyblok.com/tp/nuxt-js-multilanguage-website-tutorial
Build a Blog with Gatsby
Gatsby is a great static site generator that uses React and GraphQL under the hood. This is the result of this project:
What you will learn
In this tutorial you will learn how to leverage Gatsby to build an outstanding blog that you could well use for writing your own articles while making use of React and GraphQL.
Tech Stack & Features
- Gatsby
- React
- GraphQL
- Plugins & Themes
- MDX / Markdown
- Bootstrap CSS
- Templates
If you ever wanted to start a blog this is a great example how to do so leveraging React and GraphQL. We are not saying that WordPress always is a bad choice but with Gatsby you can create highly performant sites while using React which is an awesome combination!
https://blog.bitsrc.io/how-to-build-a-blog-with-gatsby-and-boostrap-d1270212b3dc
Build a Blog with Gridsome
Gridsome is to Vue…Okay, we already had that with Next/Nuxt but the same is true for Gridsome and Gatsby. Both use GraphQL as a data layer but Gridsome makes use of VueJS. It also is an awesome static site generator that will help you create great blogs:
What you will learn
This project will teach you how to build a simple blog to get started with Gridsome, GraphQL and Markdown. It also covers how to deploy the application via Netlify.
Tech Stack & Features
- Gridsome
- Vue
- GraphQL
- Markdown
- Netlify
This for sure isn’t the most comprehensive tutorial but covers the basic concepts of Gridsome and Markdown and could be a good starting point.
https://www.telerik.com/blogs/building-a-blog-with-vue-and-markdown-using-gridsome
Build a SoundCloud-like audio player app with Quasar
Quasar is another Vue framework that can also be used to build mobile applications. In this project you will create an audio player app looking like this:
What you will learn
While the other projects focus mainly on web applications this one will show you how to create a mobile app using Vue via the Quasar framework. You should already have a working Cordova setup with android studio / xcode configured. If not there is a link in the tutorial to the quasar website where they show you how to set this up.
Tech Stack & Features
- Quasar
- Vue
- Cordova
- Wavesurfer
- UI Components
A small project that shows the power of Quasar for building mobile apps.
https://www.learningsomethingnew.com/how-to-build-a-sound-cloud-like-audio-player-app-with-vue-js-quasar-and-wave-surfer
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