/* MINDFIRE BLOG */

Late last year, the long-anticipated version 8 of .NET was released, containing a slew of new functionality and polishing- especially within the realm of web development. One of the most talked about set of changes were the enhancements and additions of functionality given to Blazor, the ASP.NET team’s relatively new alternative to traditional web development frameworks- a potential alternative and even rival to the long reigning king, JavaScript.

It’s no secret that as Blazor and other web development frameworks (typically JavaScript ones) have developed, Blazor has remained somewhat behind due to lacking the overall functionality and flexibility that far older and more developed options possessed. Now, however, Blazor has finally been brought to a point where it is not just competitive, but many are wondering if it could be an all-out replacement for older frameworks- giving C# developers an edge in the web development sphere.

Despite this long-lasting argument and battle of comparisons, Mindfire Tech has for quite some time now (even before .NET 8) held Blazor in special esteem, valuing its more modern security and TypeScript-like functionality. Though, this opinion comes at the bias of Mindfire’s team mostly being made up of C# and .NET experts, who- while skilled with many languages including JavaScript- much prefer C# over other alternative languages. Blazor is simply a seamless switch and obvious choice for C# developers (or Razor Syntax devs) over JavaScript and its various web development frameworks (such as ReactJS, AngularJS, and so on).

I wanted to explain this bias from the start as I try to dive into the value Blazor presents both to the developers and to the clients or businesses investing in new or upgraded websites; by making it clear from the beginning that the most important and valuable aspect of Blazor is that it runs in the feature rich language of C#, and seamlessly integrates with the .NET ecosphere.

Before diving further into that point, though, I am going to first share some of what .NET 8 has brought to Blazor, and why it now stands on its own as a truly independent and extremely viable option for full-stack web development.

Full-stack web UI

In Microsoft or ASP.NET’s own words, Blazor is now a full-stack web development framework, partially thanks to its existing C# and .NET infrastructure, and also thanks to its new rendering options and hybrid methods of rendering web applications.

Before, Blazor developers were limited to choose, typically, between two primary methods of rendering web components: WebAssembly and Blazor Server. Each method had its advantages and its disadvantages, typically issues of network speeds and latency, and issues of download size and rendering speed. Developers had to choose what option would provide the best experience overall for their clients and visitors.

With .NET 8, however, developers have much more flexibility and can choose by component how they want them to render. Dividing up from the two original options, users now have the choices of Server-side Rendering, Streaming Rendering, Server Mode, or WebAssembly Mode. They also have a new automatic mode that combines the benefits of Blazor Server and WebAssembly, providing that hybridized mode that gives freedom to the developers in terms of how they want each component to render.

This is a massive enhancement to Blazor, and allows developers to refine their web applications significantly, improving performance and functionality via a case by case basis. Need one particular component to focus entirely on loading quickly? Set it to a Server-side setup and let it jump ahead, rendering as soon as the client opens the page. Need a component to be able to work offline? Blazor WebAssembly is the right pick- and there is no need to wait for it to finish loading and downloading to the client in order to display the rest of the website.

While JavaScript could do this with some effort, especially with the React framework, Blazor’s new ease of use method of choosing how you want to render your web application components removes any prior advantage JavaScript had over Blazor and C#. (This also includes mobile applications, working extremely well in mobile app/web development).

Streaming Rendering

Continuing with ways .NET 8 has improved how Blazor renders web applications, another feature or change which Microsoft was proud to announce was that of streaming rendering, wherein the client-side UI framework streams the user interface directly from the server.

This new function of Blazor helps to eliminate slow loading websites by allowing for content that can be immediately rendered and displayed to do so, while the rest of the content or application components finish their needed operations (similar to a progressive web app). In their place, simple placeholder content will be rendered and then seamlessly replaced as soon as they are finished loading. No page refresh, nor major visual changes- simple seamless patching that will give the user an impression of immediate response times.

It would definitely seem that this update to .NET was focused heavily on giving Blazor an edge when it comes to rendering content quickly and seamlessly, providing an easy way for developers to leave a positive impression on visiting users and clients.

Enhanced navigation and form handling

Another valuable aspect of Blazor, one which was majorly improved with .NET 8 (and in part a piece of streaming rendering) is the ability for it to handle changes without needing to refresh a page- this is core to a single page application (SPA).

Typically, or originally, static server-side rendered pages would need to be fully refreshed whenever a user navigated to a new page or submitted a form. Blazor, however, can intercept such requests and instead perform a fetch request, patching the rendered content rather than simply refreshing everything to match the new content.

The value of this feature is obvious, as it allows for more seamless usage of websites and other web applications, giving users a more fluid and comfortable experience. As companies and their various teams try to find ways to modernize their websites and applications- giving them the feeling of the future which customers and users constantly seem to thirst for- this seamless functionality certainly is one way to give you an edge over competitors.

Seamless interoperability

Technically already a feature of Blazor, but one that has remained a key selling point and was also improved with .NET, is how easy Blazor is to integrate with existing content from different languages and frameworks.

One of the downsides to using a new framework like Blazor (and in my opinion really the only proper downside) is that older frameworks will have had years and years of useful and functional content developed and shared across their respective ecosystems. JavaScript and frameworks such as React have countless resources and libraries available for immediate implementation, much if not most being open source and free to use.

JavaScript’s community is absolutely massive and constantly evolving, giving way for new and old developers to immediately find new ways of doing things and resolving issues they couldn’t solve on their own. It is simply a resource far too valuable to ignore or to abandon.

That is why it is fantastic that Blazor doesn’t do so, but instead has extremely robust methods of allowing interoperability with existing JavaScript solutions and components. You’re not restricted to just C# and .NET features but can blend and weld different existing methods of doing things (via JavaScript) together to allow for web applications to run exactly how you want.

This is especially useful as clients want to update or upgrade old websites and other web applications to run in Blazor. The likelihood is that much of the code the original site was made on is still useful or functioning fine, and instead of needing to fully re-create all that content, it can simply be adapted to integrate directly into your Blazor web application. Certainly, you should strip off and re-create severely crippled, unsupported, or insecure components- but for those pieces which still work great and may even be a critical aspect of the web application, no worries, it will likely work just fine alongside your brand new Blazor components.

Blazor is also compatible with many other technologies including SignalR and MassTransit, allowing super easy interoperability with whatever old web app you’re updating or connecting.

Conclusion

My purpose in writing this article was not to argue why Blazor is better than JavaScript and related frameworks (or other languages such as Python, Swift, or Dart), but simply to elaborate on why Blazor is causing such an uproar in the web development community- and why Mindfire prefers it over older and more established alternatives for web development.

The truth is that everything C# can do on the web, JavaScript can also do- and has likely done, considering its massive seniority in the field of web development. There is a reason that over 90% of all websites on the global internet utilize JavaScript as a core aspect of their web applications. However, my point is that any arguments that JavaScript was superior to C# and Blazor have now been made moot or no longer relevant. Blazor is now just as full-stack and viable for web development as any JavaScript framework, and even contains some of its own aces up its sleeve such as a superior programming model. The best part is that it’s still under major development, and Microsoft’s ASP.NET team doesn’t appear to be slowing down on development anytime soon (meaning continuing security enhancements, feature upgrades, and more).

So, what framework should you as a respective business owner or developer choose for your web application or website? Well, whichever fits your team’s expertise the best. Have a team of ReactJS experts? Keep on going with JavaScript. Have a team of C# and .NET developers? Blazor will be a seamless transition for them (if they aren’t already experts on it).

As for Mindfire Tech, we will continue to recommend Blazor to our clients, as it will always prove the best fit for any future web application projects given to our team. Not because we think it is necessarily better than JavaScript, but because it fits our model best and we can do anything with it that any JavaScript developer can do with their respective frameworks.

If you are interested in having a website or web application built from scratch or upgraded/updated, we here at Mindfire Tech are ready to tackle any project sent our way, no matter how challenging or unique. Whether you want it made in C# or JavaScript, our team of experienced software engineers will find solutions to your needs and will work to make your dreams become a reality.

Just reach out over our contact-us page, and we will start a proper conversation ASAP.