The advent of smartphones along with the constant evolution of technology completely revolutionized the digital era. Because of this, companies must now continue trying their best to reach their audiences across multiple channels.
Most people manage their lives from the palm of their hands. As consumers turn to mobile applications for service consumption at their convenience, companies focus their attention on building better and more attractive applications.
To stay ahead of their competitors, companies need access to advanced programming tools. JavaScript frameworks are a very popular choice due to their high efficiency, organization, and scalability.
Backbone.js is a JavaScript framework widely used for the development of mobile applications. It’s extremely simple to learn and efficient, rendering it a popular platform among the developer community.
What Is Backbone.js?
Backbone.js is a powerful tool used to structure and develop web and mobile applications. As the name suggests, this platform works as a backbone for the applications. It is a library for the project at hand, helping JavaScript developers organize their code and manage data models.
This tool provides a minimalistic yet effective approach to developing responsive and rich applications through JavaScript. The end product is also usually lightweight and compatible with multiple platforms, making both developers’ and customers’ lives easier.
Backbone.js features a lightweight library perfect for simplifying and streamlining the development process. It separates data from the presentation by structuring the code and dividing it into separate JavaScript files. This tool is also powered by templates, key-value bindings, custom events, and a rich API function repository.
Based on a Model View Presenter design pattern, the Backbone.js platform is fully equipped with a library of RESTful JSON interfaces. It depends on Underscore.js, the single JavaScript library. This makes assigning names, performing different actions, and sharing device data a lot easier.
Because of its flexibility and efficiency as a technology, Backbone.js remains one of the most powerful and preferred platforms in the development community.
What Is Backbone.js Used For? Case Studies
Backbone.js has a wide variety of applications and helps developers at many different stages throughout the development process. Developers should consider using Backbone.js when:
- They’re creating a simple single-page application without extensive dependencies.
- The application’s heavy lifting is carried out in the backend.
- They want to develop an app quickly while still maintaining high functionality.
This platform is also helpful in situations where developers need to minimize HTTP requests to servers, streamline complicated UI design, and structure code to save time. Let’s take a closer look at a few examples of successful and widely popular applications that used Backbone.js in their development.
Trello
Trello is a popular collaboration and project management app that helps team members organize their projects and communicate. Developers built this helpful application from the ground up with Backbone.js.
Here, the JavaScript platform works alongside the HTML5 History API and template-like language on the front end. This allows developers to create a maintainable client that easily handles updates, server syncs, and efficient code reuse.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an audio distribution platform where people have the ability to listen to and share their favorite tunes for free. Developers initially used Backbone.js as the front-end framework of their mobile application. However, the end product was so great that they decided to also employ it on the client aspect of the desktop website.
Airbnb
Airbnb is a community marketplace where registered users can both offer their own homes and find different types of accommodations to rent nearly anywhere in the world.
Much like SoundCloud, Airbnb developers used Backbone.js to create their mobile application. Later on, they employed this JavaScript platform to introduce new features throughout their website applications.
The company also decided to try using Backbone.js’ library on the backend side of the app. This led to the creation of Rendr, their open-source server-side Backbone library, written in Node.js.
Hulu
Hulu is a well-known streaming app for anyone in the U.S. who wants uninterrupted access to their favorite TV shows and movies. The way Hulu developers used Backbone.js translates into a seamless and faster user experience for simplified streaming across a variety of devices.
The dev teams used it to create a quick interface with soft transitions during navigation, and it helps save bandwidth for users by ensuring that scripts and embedded videos don’t often reload. Instead of rewriting their existing Rails backend, Hulu developers used Backbone.js to convert their rendering from server-side to client-side.
The Pain Points of Using Backbone.js
While developers mostly regard Backbone.js as a great app development tool there are also a few pain points associated with using it. Development teams should undoubtedly take a closer look at some of the biggest disadvantages of Backbone.js before deciding on using the technology.
- Productivity – Backbone.js is a library. As such, it requires users to write and input most of the necessary code. The lack of features, like two-way data binding, makes some of its competitors a bit more attractive to some developers for certain projects.
- Architecture – The architecture of Backbone.js is a bit unclear at times. Developers often have a hard time understanding some of its features or at least require more research time in order to understand them.
- Memory leaking – This is a major disadvantage, especially for developers who aren’t too familiar with JavaScript. While writing new applications, inexperienced developers could inadvertently end up leaking memory.
A few other disadvantages of using Backbone.js include requiring a longer development time and a greater understanding of its inner workings. The JavaScript platform is sometimes slow and debugging is hard. However, in most cases, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of these technologies.
Advantages of Using Backbone.js
Despite the aforementioned disadvantages of this platform, Backbone.js is still a very popular tool because of the great number of advantages it offers. The most important advantages of using Backbone.js include:
- Lightweight – Because Backbone.js is so light, many developers take advantage of it to create responsive applications with significantly reduced loading speeds.
- Many small libraries – One of Backbone.js’ many features is its extensibility. It comes with a wide variety of libraries that are always available. Developers then have the ability to use them however and whenever they need to.
- Easy to learn – There are many guides, documentation, and other resources regarding Backbone.js available online. Because it is such a widespread platform, there are also many case studies available in which developers go over their tests and results. This fairly flattened learning curve alone makes Backbone.js an attractive technology for both new and experienced developers.
- Conventional coding style – Backbone.js has its own coding conventions. Developers who make use of this standardized code end up saving lots of time throughout their programming sessions.
Other important advantages of using Backbone.js include modular organization, simple back-end synchronizing, an open-source library, automatic HTML updates, event communication, scalability, and flexibility.
Scope of Services for Backbone.js Projects
Many development companies provide services based on Backbone.js development. Such projects require specialized approaches and depend on the work of talented professionals. A few examples of services based on Backbone.js include mobile and web application development, consulting, API integration, support, and maintenance.
- Mobile and web application development – Backbone.js experts work with models, views, events, collections, and other JavaScript functions to create richer app viewing and handling experiences.
- Consulting services – Companies that work with Backbone.js usually have strong teams with many experts. They help make use of them in order to assist other companies by providing consulting services. These experts then help guide more inexperienced teams at any phase of their Backbone.js projects.
- Backbone.js API integrations – API integration is very beneficial when it comes to working across different formats and devices. Backbone.js experts provide seamless synchronizing across existing APIs to increase the client’s flexibility.
- DOM manipulation – Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming interface for web documents and works as the backbone of Backbone.js. Specialized teams can manage and manipulate DOM events to help companies achieve their goals.
- HTML5 mobile development – Developing web applications with HTML5 is sometimes a bit complicated as a process, specifically when it comes to finding structural and functional difficulties. Backbone.js teams easily integrate the JavaScript platform into their existing application to help simplify and organize it.
- Support and maintenance – Even after the application completion, companies sometimes face difficulties in the post-development and launch phases. Backbone.js experts can provide support from the backend and help maintain the efficiency of the application on the front end.
Backbone.js development companies sometimes even offer other extended services including event-driven communication services, backend syncing, and more.
Outsourcing for Backbone.js Tech Projects
Many companies work with outsourcing providers to find the right JavaScript development talent to help them complete their Backbone.js projects. To understand how an outsourcing provider develops Backbone.js tech products, it’s important to know how they create a development process.
Each client requires a different approach, and outsourcing providers always work toward meeting their client’s needs. To begin with, the outsourcing provider must understand the client’s needs and expectations.
Communication at this stage is key, as the outsourcing provider needs to know every detail regarding the company’s objectives, projections, and budget. The provider, such as BairesDev, has to create a custom solution, propose a plan of action, and provide a cost estimate.
Once the client agrees to the terms, both parties sign a contract and the Backbone.js development stage begins. First, the outsourced team gathers and assembles the required data and then transforms it into models that will help guide the project execution.
The next step involves structuring the MVC framework. Backbone.js’ Model View Controller (MVC) framework is fundamental to support all adapters that will directly connect to different data sources.
Once the framework is operational, the main development of Backbone.js for different applications begin. During this phase, the company’s envisioned projects begin to take shape.
Testing and debugging are fundamental steps in the development of any application. Here, the outsourced Backbone.js team puts the final application through multiple testing phases, which will then lead them to further debugging and modifications before launching the app.
Once the experts and the company are happy with the product, the outsourced team leads their clients through the deployment of the Backbone.js software, website, or application. They’re also readily available for post-launch backend support.
FAQ
Does Backbone.js work in the backend or the front end?
Backbone.js works both in the backend and the front end of a system. In fact, Backbone.js is very popular among its competition because it allows developers to seamlessly sync both the backend and the front-end systems.
What are the main components of Backbone.js?
Backbone.js is slightly different than other MVC frameworks. It consists of six main components that include Models, Views, Collections, Events, Routers, and Sync.
Is it hard to learn Backbone.js?
No, it isn’t hard to learn Backbone.js, especially if the developer already has a good understanding of JavaScript. In this case, it’s possible to begin working with Backbone.js in only two or three days.
