How Low-Code is Changing Frontend Development: Insights from Tencent’s Lqlong

With the rise of the “big front‑end” era, front‑end engineers are exploring ways to boost development efficiency, and low‑code platforms that let users drag‑and‑drop to generate web applications have become especially popular.

IMWEB: Please introduce yourself.

Lqlong: Hi, I’m Li Qinglong, a senior front‑end engineer at Tencent and the front‑end technology lead for Tencent Penguin Tutoring. At the 8th IMWEB Conf I will share our low‑code journey, covering our practice and the evolution of our low‑code system.

IMWEB: How do you define low‑code?

Lqlong: Low‑code is a software development approach where, instead of hand‑writing code, developers configure visual components in a graphical interface that automatically generate code. It is not a new concept, but front‑end advancements have given it new meaning.

IMWEB: Is low‑code always more efficient than hand‑coding?

Lqlong: Not necessarily. For simple code snippets, low‑code may not be faster than copy‑paste or scaffolding tools. In scenarios with complex, non‑reusable logic, the value of low‑code is limited. It works best for simple, highly reusable logic.

IMWEB: Some argue that front‑end developers don’t need low‑code because writing code directly is quicker. What’s your view?

Lqlong: Many pages are simple and repetitive; hand‑coding them offers no technical growth and wastes time. A low‑code system lets operations staff build pages without any code, freeing developers to focus on more interesting problems.

IMWEB: What practical experience does the IMWeb team have with low‑code?

Lqlong: We began low‑code work in 2015 to improve the efficiency of building operation‑activity pages, achieving a huge boost in speed. Since then we have continuously evolved our platform, now using it to construct activity pages, data‑source interfaces, and internal management system pages. This year we launched a visual‑page core suite that enables rapid creation of an efficient, extensible, high‑performance low‑code system.

IMWEB: How do you see the future of low‑code?

Lqlong: I believe low‑code will continue to thrive. Development efficiency is a perpetual concern; low‑code offers a key avenue for improvement. For tech companies it reduces labor costs, and for traditional industries it accelerates digital transformation, even allowing startups to build standardized information systems without hiring developers.