Hey everyone! I’ve been working with plain JavaScript for a while now and I’m ready to dive into using UI component libraries, especially for React and Angular projects. I’m looking for recommendations on which ones are worth investing time in learning.
I’ve heard about a few options like Material UI, Chakra UI, and Shadcn UI, but I’m not sure which one offers the best value. What makes your favorite UI library stand out from the competition? Are there any other libraries you’d recommend that have worked well for you in real projects?
I’m particularly interested in hearing about ease of use, customization options, and overall developer experience. Thanks for any insights you can share!
i think Chakra UI is seriously underrated! i’ve been usin it for about 8 months, and the theming system is just perfect! way cleaner than Material UI’s complicated setup. plus, smaller bundle size is a nice boost for performance too.
I’ve worked with both React and Angular, and here’s what I’d go with: Ant Design for React projects. Sure, Material UI is popular, but Ant Design has better built-in functionality and a solid design system right out of the box. The docs are great too, so you won’t struggle picking it up. For Angular, Angular Material is your best bet. It integrates perfectly with Angular and the theming system lets you customize everything without breaking your head. Plus both have active communities and get regular updates - super important if you’re building something you’ll maintain long-term.
oh cool! what projects are you building with these? do certain libraries work better for specific stuff - like dashboards vs customer apps? how’s the learning curve from vanilla js?