Back at it again with the painfully alliterated titles! But actually, there’s a lot of great stuff with the Ionic framework to unpack, so let’s get into a full review of it!
The Good
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: Not only does Ionic allow a developer to create a web application for both desktop and mobile users, but it’s super easy. I personally have little to no experience adapting websites for mobile users, but Ionic has all of that built in so the developer never has to think twice about it.
- Analytics: By incorporating Google Analytics, Ionic offers integrated insight on your application’s usage. It gives information about traffic, demographics, etc. Everything you would expect from a Google Analytics plug-in.
Courtesy of: Ionic Forum Post - Community: This is often a lost/forgotten aspect of a framework. Ionic has a very strong community with active forums where users are happy to help with any technical troubleshooting that needs to be done.
The Bad
- Mobile-centric: While I totally understand the intent of Ionic is to make mobile web development better/easier, it is certainly not for use in developing a full-desktop web application. This is typically the area I work in, so I may be unfairly weighing this as a negative. But even then, it’s less of a drawback and more of a limitation.
That’s really all there is for bad stuff regarding Ionic. Most of the web development I do is intended for desktop users. Thus, Ionic wouldn’t be a great choice for me. However, if I were to (and I should) start shifting the focus of my development towards bringing in a more mobile audience, Ionic would hands-down be my first choice.