Is LayUI’s Shutdown a Signal of Shifting Frontend Trends?
The article examines LayUI’s impending shutdown, its simple yet practical design for backend developers, distinctive visual appeal, the paid LayAdmin extension, technical limitations such as its custom module system and mobile support, and speculates on why the project is being discontinued.
Origin
By chance I saw the official LayUI announcement that the LayUI website will be closed, which felt a bit sad. The notice mentions that new downloads, documentation, and examples will continue on GitHub and Gitee, but the original author’s focus will likely shift away from LayUI.
The author encourages developers to embrace Vue.js and Element UI, suggesting that even jQuery’s influence is fading, and questioning whether this marks the end of an era.
LayUI Features
Amid competition from Vue, React, Angular, Ant Design, and Element UI, LayUI survives because of its unique characteristics: it is simple and practical and was originally built for backend developers.
For example, adding class="layui-table" to a static table instantly gives it an elegant appearance, which is a boon for backend projects. The same approach works with ASP.NET GridView to achieve a professional UI without importing numerous JavaScript packages.
LayUI’s Visual Appeal
The author praises LayUI’s color scheme, describing it as fresh yet deep, providing a harmonious visual experience that reduces visual fatigue and blends well with various website designs.
LayUI’s layout is especially suitable for backend projects, and the author has used it extensively in their own software.
LayAdmin
LayUI also offers a paid framework called LayAdmin. If LayUI components are like tires, steering wheels, and car covers, LayAdmin assembles these components into a semi‑finished car, providing an iframe mode and a single‑page mode.
Where LayUI Falls Short
LayUI’s module system does not conform to CMD or AMD standards, and before ES6, JavaScript lacked native import/export support, making module handling cumbersome. Data binding is also more complex, and mobile support is limited.
Despite these issues, LayUI remains well‑suited for enterprise application development.
Why Is LayUI Closing?
The exact reason is unclear, but it is likely that the original author is simply exhausted. Commercializing the project is difficult, especially for a front‑end framework that is hard to monetize, which may have contributed to the decision to shut down.
The author hopes LayUI will continue to improve in the future.
Signed-in readers can open the original source through BestHub's protected redirect.
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Programmer DD
A tinkering programmer and author of "Spring Cloud Microservices in Action"
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