Day 7: How to pick the tech of the Design system #25DaysofDS

Developers have many options in today's world to create reusable components for the Design system. From Reactjs to the vanilla js. Picking the right tech could be overwhelming because of the obvious reasons - too many choices. Let's see today what key factors one should consider while picking the UI tech for the development of the components.

What are the available options?

1. Vanilla JavaScript, HTML, CSS
2. Reactjs
3. Angular
4. Vuejs
5. Web components

Factors to consider while picking the UI Tech

1. Team skils

   Picking the tech on the basis of your team skills is not wrong as long they are not outdated skills. If it is like your team knows already popular skill then you can go ahead and pick the one your team knows. This will help in rapid development. If they are into an outdated skill then focus on upskilling their skills.

2. Existing tech in the company

   This would be the most important factor - which tech is getting used in your company? You need to pick that and make your design system on that. Reason - once your design system is ready the projects want to adapt them without changing their technology.

3. The learning curve of the tech

   While picking a new tech, the important point comes is the learning curve. If the learning curve is hard it is going to impact the timeline. Hence, as a tech decision-maker, you need to pick the tech-based on the timelines too.

4. Community support

   It is important to see the community support available for the tech. If there is limited tech support which means if you got stuck somewhere you will be struggling to get the support and solution. If you are fine to take such risk (which I should advise do not take such risk) then go ahead.

5. Size of the UI framework

   When you are picking a UI framework you also need to check the size of the framework. This is important because of performance reasons. If you will pick something which is already heavy and when you start adding your code above that the performance of your design system is going to low.

6. Popularity

   The popularity of the UI framework also influenced the decision of picking the framework. If you are a service-based company or start-up looking to make your clients impressed with your design system then you will be inclined towards the most popular UI framework. This is not a bad thing at all. It is all about getting your design system on the most popular or new tech.

7. Does it meet your requirements?

   As a tech decision-maker, you need to note down all the requirements you have for your design system. Such as - timelines, tech skills, performance, Sacleability, size, internal working, SEO support, open-source, etc. This will be your metric to evaluate the right UI framework for your design system.