Top 5 Tools In My Web App Development Toolkit

There is no denying that web and mobile apps are the part and parcel of all businesses, whether small or large. Organizations rely on these apps to reach out to their customers, automate their business processes, keep track of sales, monitor employee performance, and even make future strategic decisions. Naturally, this makes web app development a critical process for any software engineer.

In the context of web application development, it is important to know about the best JavaScript tools to speed up the entire process of app creation. These tools are now a key to accelerating development and reducing time-to-market. Developers can now spend more time meeting the requirements of their clients and less time writing boilerplate code.

When it comes to tools for JavaScript app development, Sencha Ext JS is not just a complete framework for web and mobile app building. It also includes the most important tools required in all stages of app creation. Whether you are designing the app, creating its user interface, writing its business logic, designing its database schema, or packaging it for the end-user, Sencha Ext JS has an automated solution for you.

Here is a list of the top 5 must-have tools, which are indispensable for any developer. Continue reading to discover why these tools are important and why you should include them in your app development toolkit.

1. What is Sencha Architect in Web App Development?

Sencha Architect is an app builder with a visual interface. You can use Sencha Architect to develop cross-platform HTML 5 web applications for the desktop. As Ext JS is also a complete JavaScript mobile app framework; therefore, you can use Sencha Architect while building mobile apps.

One of the most awesome features of Sencha Architect is that it empowers you to build your apps using drag and drop features. This way, you don’t have to spend much time on manual coding. Much of the boilerplate code is generated for you. Moreover, the generated code is optimized for high performance.

The automatic code generation feature is available for desktop as well as mobile apps. Configurations and properties of many Ext JS UI components can be altered using a visual WYSIWYG window. This eliminates the chances of code errors that developers often make and helps speed up the overall development time.

2. What is Sencha Themer?

While the default styles and themes provided by Ext JS are awesome, they may not be compatible with your organization’s color schemes. Sencha provides an easy solution to customizing all styles, color schemes, and themes with Sencha Themer.

Sencha Themer, like Sencha Architect, is also a visual tool with a graphical interface. It enables you to style Ext JS apps without writing a single piece of code. Additionally, you can create custom themes and reuse them in other apps.

Sencha Themer also includes a smart color palette, which enables you to apply different color combinations to different component states. The color palette with its progressively lighter and darker color shades makes it very easy to choose the base, body background, and font colors.

What’s more, Sencha Themer has a font management option. You can quickly select the fonts of your choice in your app. Additionally, you can add web fonts from Google fonts.

3. How Does Sencha Cmd Accelerate Web App Development?

Sencha Cmd is a must-have JavaScript developer tool for all software engineers when building apps for desktop as well as mobile devices. It includes a full suite of life-cycle management features. These include code minification for removing redundant code, scaffolding for project generation, production build generation, and more.

Sencha Cmd includes an extensive set of command line options ranging from code generation to native packaging. The best thing is that it automates many phases of the Javascript app development life-cycle.

Using Sencha Cmd, you can create near-native apps for your platform of choice, including desktop and mobile. You can use different configurations for different platforms. For example, if you choose progressive  config in Sencha Cmd, then your mobile app is automatically built and requires a minimum installation effort. Users can easily install it on their mobile devices. Moreover, Sencha Cmd enables you to distribute your app through app stores.

4. How Does Sencha Stencils Help Build an App With JavaScript?

Sencha Stencils is a comprehensive UI asset kit for Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD, Sketch, Balsamiq. Additionally, it is available as SVG/PNG for use with other programs. It includes all the components’ color schemes and styles used in the 140+ components included in both Ext JS and Modern toolkits.

Sencha Stencils enables all app designers to treat components as vector files and symbols. There is no longer any need for writing tedious code to create stunning mockups. That’s why they can create great-looking web apps fast.

5. How Do I Make the Most of Sencha Fiddle?

Along with many JavaScript testing tools, Ext JS also includes Sencha Fiddle. Sencha Fiddle allows you to try out JavaScript code right in your browser without installing any special software or tools. The best thing is that Fiddle is a 100% free tool.

Sencha Fiddle is a complete environment that enables you to write code, add assets and data, and specify packages. You can create code and run it right there in the Fiddle setup and see the output.

Once you have fine-tuned your code you can also share it with your colleagues and other developers. All you need to do is save the code and retrieve its URL. You can then share the URL via email or different forums for others to use.

How Do I Get Started With Web App Development Using Sencha Tools?

Sencha’s family of products includes many more tools to accelerate the web app development process. Apart from the 5 indispensable tools mentioned above, you can also try out IDE and Code Editor plugins, ExtBuild, Sencha Inspector, ExtGen, and much more. Sencha Ext JS empowers you to build powerful data-intensive web apps for both desktop and mobile platforms.

Join the Sencha family and download your free Ext JS trial today. Happy Coding!