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I'm thinking which frameworks should I use to port an existent application UI to a mobile friendly one.

I've seen Ionic and I was pretty happy with its UI and components until I noticed it requires Angular.js for its functionality.

My project is developed in Knockout.js over Node.js and I'm not planning to start using Angular at this point.

jQuery Mobile seems like another alternative to it but it seems its development its not as active and its community is not as big or as active. Plus the UI is not native for each OS and it looks as good in big screens.

I've seen other alternatives (Onsen UI, Intel XDK, Sencha Touch, Kendo UI, Framework 7...) but none of them seem to be as popular and as active as Ionic and some of them still need Angular.js.

Isn't there any out of the box framework that doesn't require Angular.js and which provides not only the UI but also the touch features as Ionic does?

Bootstrap might not be at the same level as all of these frameworks.

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Alvaro
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2 Answers2

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I would suggest you Onsen UI. Since Onsen UI 2.0 release (at the moment in open beta) the framework is completely agnostic, which means that can work standalone. Nevertheless, it's also still compatible with some of the most famous frameworks like AngularJS 1.x (and Angular 2 in the future), ReactJS (see demo) and KnockoutJS.

Moreover, besides being compatible with iOS and Android, it's one of the few frameworks to be compatible with Windows platform (Windows Phone, Windows Universal App) and to implement Material Design! The learning curve is also very fast.

The community is not so small, as you can see from StackOverflow activity and Gitter Channel. Moreover, the developers are very active in the development, in the issues fix (almost 600 bugs fixed at the moment) and open to listen to the users suggestions.

Take a look at this article about Onsen UI 2.0 and give it a shot.

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Andi Pavllo
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    Also, there is a quick example using Knockout.js with OnsenUI: http://codepen.io/frankdiox/pen/adzyxQ – Fran Dios Jan 05 '16 at 03:09
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    Some more info about OnsenUI Beta: http://www.gajotres.net/onsen-ui-2-0-beta-is-out-and-you-should-check-it/ – Fran Dios Jan 05 '16 at 03:11
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I suggest you should use any of these UI frameworks

  1. http://www.idangero.us/framework7/get-started/
  2. http://chocolatechip-ui.com/

Save yourself all the stress, Its independent of any Js framework and very simple to implement, just like Bootstrap.

I have actually used the first one. framework7

You can create Mobile Apps UI with Native Look & Feel For Web or Hybrid

Tosin Onikute
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