What are View Engines?

View engines are templates that help developers create HTML content by combining fixed HTML with dynamic data. By integrating with frameworks like Express.js, they simplify the process of showing dynamic data on web pages. View engines connect with the framework’s code and display HTML that reflects the app’s logic and data in real time.

In the context of Express.js, popular view engines Include:

1. Handlebars:

• Syntax: Uses double curly braces {{}} for placeholders.
• Features: Supports variables, conditionals, loops, and partials.
• Simplicity: Provides an easy-to-understand syntax for dynamic templating.

2. EJS (Embedded JavaScript):

• JavaScript Integration: Allows embedding JavaScript within HTML markup.
• Syntax: Uses <% %> for JavaScript code blocks and <%= %> for output.
• Flexibility: Offers familiarity to JavaScript developers and supports dynamic content rendering.

3. Pug (formerly Jade):

• Concise Syntax: Uses indentation instead of brackets for HTML structure.
• Features: Supports mixins, includes, and filters for modular templates.
• Expressiveness: Provides a powerful yet succinct syntax for template creation.

4. Mustache:

• Logic-less: Focuses on simplicity and portability without programming logic.
• Syntax: Uses double curly braces {{}} for placeholders and tags.
• Versatility: Compatible with multiple programming languages and environments for templating.

Express.js is a popular and adaptable framework for developing web apps and APIs using Node.js. Its simplicity, versatility, and solid features make it a popular option among developers. The usage of view engines is an important component of Express.js that greatly helps to its efficacy.

In this article, we’ll look at why view engines are important in Express.js programming and discuss their benefits.