Delivering more value with MeteorJS
MeteorJS is a JavaScript Framework that's enabled us to develop web applications in far shorter timescales than other approaches.
Delivering value for our clients is really important to us; we’re always looking for ways in which we can deliver more value for clients for the same or less investment. Recently, we were able to utilise Let’s Encrypt to provide free SSL certificates for all new Craft CMS based projects.
One of the tools that’s really helped us deliver more value is MeteorJS. MeteorJS is an open source JavaScript framework that first emerged onto the web application development scene in 2012 and is built upon Node.js. It enables web developers to build “isomorphic JavaScript applications”, a fancy term that means JavaScript is the language being used both client-side (in the browser) and server-side (on the server).
I first took MeteorJS for a spin in 2013, back when the Windows version was in the early beta stage. It certainly looked impressive but my initial excitement was quickly reduced to frustration as the Windows developer experience was very much a work-in-progress (serves me right for using Windows!).
Since then I’ve watched with interest as MeteorJS has grown into a capable framework for building production-grade web applications. The MeteorJS website includes a showcase of many well trafficked web applications that are built using the framework, proving the potential MeteorJS has for use in our own, and your own large scale applications.
We selected MeteorJS at the end of 2015 to build our in-house deployment tool. We rely on this everyday to perform the deployment of new code releases to our web hosting infrastructure at Amazon Web Services. The choice quickly proved to be a good one as MeteorJS enabled us to develop the application in an incredibly short timescale. Since its launch at the start of the year it has now handled over 800 production deployments. We were even able to integrate it into Slack so we can use Slack commands to trigger our deployments for ultimate developer bliss!
MeteorJS has enabled us to build web applications in vastly reduced timescales compared to more traditional methods. For clients that approach us with a new concept for a web application we aim to deliver an MVP (minimum viable product) for the smallest investment we can and that’s where MeteorJS really excels. Granted, it’s not a perfect fit in every case but it’s certainly earned its place as a worthy tool in our arsenal.
