The declining popularity of mobile web has made it essential for enterprises to launch mobile apps to attract and engage customers. But each enterprise wants to lunch a high-performing mobile app with out-of-box features within a shorter amount of time to beat competition. So the developers nowadays need a variety of tools to aid and speed up their mobile app development and testing efforts. Some of these tools even enable programmers to create cross-platform mobile apps using commonly used web technologies, and the same code base. So you must understand and take advantage of these low-code mobile app development tools to reduce the amount of time and effort required for developing quality and modern mobile applications.

7 Tools to Speed up Your Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Efforts

1) DOM Frameworks
While developing a cross-platform mobile app, developers have to use JavaScript and Document Object Model (DOM). With mobile web browsers becoming more consistent and powerful, the cross-platform applications can be implemented more easily. But the programmers still need to understand when the code can be written directly without using dependency.

The DOM frameworks make it easier for programmers to write code directly by targeting DOM to reduce issues related to browser-incompatibility. The DOM frameworks will help you to add, remove and select DOM elements, animation and network communication without adding extra boilerplate. Based on your needs, you can consider using popular DOM frameworks like JQuery, Gecko, WebKit, Zepto, or Google’s Blink engine.

2) CSS Libraries
Most cross-platform mobile apps are nowadays developed using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. So you have to use CSS frameworks to easily write and test CSS by targeting various mobile web browsers. Along with writing CSS quickly, you can also use these frameworks to test the code and identify bugs in it. Based on the requirements of the project, you can choose from several popular CSS libraries including Twitter Bootstrap, ZURB Foundation or Topcoat. But you must remember that Bootstrap is more popular and widely used than other CSS libraries available in the market.

3) JavaScript Frameworks
In addition to writing JavaScript code flawlessly, you also need to focus on structuring and organizing the code properly. There are several frameworks that make it easier for you to write, structure and organize the JavaScript code. You can always speed up cross-platform mobile app development by using popular JavaScript tools like Backbone, Angular and Ember. Some of these widely used JavaScript tools also come with the dependencies required to extend the mobile applications.

4) UI Frameworks
You can always take advantage of popular UI frameworks to rapidly create user interfaces using JavaScript and CSS. These frameworks come with features to provide out-of-box development experience to users. They provide a wide variety of tools that help developers to add features and functionality to the mobile app without writing longer lines of code. At the same time, some frameworks even provide tools to test the application’s performance across multiple devices and browsers. You can always avail comprehensive mobile development and testing tools by opting for Sencha Touch, JQuery Mobile, Kendo or Enyo. However, you must opt for a tool that is being supported, maintained and updated consistently to maintain and upgrade the code smoothly in future.

5) Utility Libraries
In addition to developing the apps quickly, you also need to package and implement the mobile application effectively. So you have to use certain utility libraries to maintain the mobile application without putting any extra time and effort. However, the functionality of individual utility libraries differs. So you may need multiple libraries to maintain the application completely.

You can use HTML5 Boilerplate to avail a single tidy package that includes all components of the project. Likewise, Modernizr will help you in polyfilling by identifying features of each modern browser. You can even use Underscore to make your code more readable and easier to understand by using JavaScript helper functions. At the same time, RequireJS will make it easier for you to manage dependencies efficiently, and enhance the application’s performance across different web browsers.

6) Editors
You will also need editors to read, assess and make changes to the code. You have option to choose from several open source code editors. Most of the code editors provide similar features and functionality. Based on you requirements, you can consider using popular editors like Sublime, Textmate, VIM or Brackets. Unlike other editors, Brackets is written using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. So you can use Bracket to assess and edit code written in these popular web technologies. You can even consider using PhantomJS to identify and fix all bugs in your code by using the WebKit testing tool provided by it.

7) Complete Mobile App Development Tools
Instead of using multiple tools and frameworks, you can always consider using a single framework that helps you to design, debug and market the mobile apps. These frameworks also offer the features and services required by individual mobile app development projects. For instance, you can use Appscend to avail tools required for developing both B2B and B2C mobile applications. As an open source package, LiveCode will help you to create cross-platform mobile apps by targeting iOS and Android. LiveCode enables you to accomplish a variety of tasks by using commands and objects.

Likewise, you can take advantage of the UI widget tool kit provided by Tabris to easily create native Android and iOS apps. Also, you have option to use commercial cross-platform mobile app development tools that allows you to create the same app by targeting iOS, Android and Windows Phone, and using the same code base. You can use Xamarin to create app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone by using the same code base written in C#. Also, you can use Corona SDK to create mobile apps that run on Android, iOS, Nook and Kindle Fire.

However, you must remember that the features and performance of individual mobile app development tools vary. Some of these tools help you to create app by targeting a single mobile platform, whereas others enable you to target multiple mobile operating systems. So you must pick the right tools according to the specific needs of your project to save the development time and efforts significantly.