If you’ve been following Monterail for a while, you probably aware that the Vue.js Newsletter, now a part of the official Vue.js News channel, has its roots inside our organizations. Launched somewhere in mid-2016, the newsletter grew to over 13,000 subscribers over 122 issues.

The year 2018 is slowly coming to an end and it’s been a truly busy year for Vue—we’ve seen new features revealed, new releases announced, and big plans for the future unveiled. As Vue.js evangelists, we’ve been actively keeping track of news and updates from this part of the JavaScript world and even published some Vue-related content ourselves.

But to compile this list of most popular articles, I reached out to my colleague and Vue.js newsletter co-creator—Krzysztof Jung. The articles featured in our summary were chosen based on the number of clicks in the newsletter. Therefore the list includes blog post and news that garnered the most attention.

Well, here they are, the most widely-read articles from the 2018 issues of the Vue.js newsletter. Let’s start from the bottom and make our way to the top. You know, to build a little tension.

#20 Making a large scale app - 617 clicks

It’s basically a straightforward answer to Anthony Gore’s question whether it’s possible to build large-scale app with Vue.js. Spoiler alert, it is. Later on in the piece, Stephane Souron talks about organizing and managing your data store, and where API calls take place. If you still harbor doubts about Vue’s capabilities or simply want to find out how to use it in practice, read this guide.

When VuePress—a new static site generator—was announced, comparisons to Nuxt were unavoidable. And one of the best was compiled by Derick Sozo from VueMastery, who took up the challenge of finding out how the two generators differ from one another and establishing what the main advantages of VuePress are. A comprehensive piece with tips how to write content-heavy documentation out of the box.

...and it was a simple “to do” app. Sunil Sandhu wanted to find out who wore it better, React or Vue.js. He goes through the process step by step, comparing both frameworks’ capabilities and providing a brilliant explanation for every line of code to give you a deeper understanding of both players. This developer story hit over 46,000 claps on Medium and has been translated into seven languages—it’s a must read.

Source: https://www.medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english

Just like the title states, the piece is a thorough explanation of handling forms, components and considerations in sixteen succinct points. The author underlines the most important aspects in a neatly structured text, augmented with screenshots and highlights. Easy and fun to read. This guide will help you make informed decisions about Form Handling and avoid bloated Forms and costly rewrites.

#16 A new Vue on JavaScript30 - 654

An interesting take on Wes Bos’ 30 days JS challenge. Dave Follett decided to look at the challenge from a Vue.js perspective and dedicated a series of articles to building the same things in Vue and vanilla JS. It’s an inspiring and educational read outlining the two approaches. Let this article guide you through writing your very own app, whether with Vue or pure JS.

In his piece, Mitchell Garcia drew on the topic of Vue components to prove why you shouldn’t actually use them when building Vue apps. He shares his reasoning with the audience and suggests viable alternatives, keeping the whole thing succinct and to the point to help you make up your mind quick.

Surprised that news announcements made their way into the most-clicked links list? Well, I’m not. The announcement of the upcoming release of a prime combo—in the form of NativeScript-Vue 1.0—attracted a huge audience. This blog post by TJ VanToll outlines the exact plans concerning these native apps using Vue.js and NativeScript and answers some frequently asked questions. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s high time to catch up!

Source: https://www.nativescript.org

#13 Authentication Best Practices for Vue - 737

This summary answers the most burning questions that are likely to pop up in the course of any serious project, such as “How do we handle client-side token-based authentication?” Illustrated with clear code and proven practices, it will give you a pretty solid starting point for handling all API calls in your app. Capped off with reasonable conclusion and lessons learned.

#12 Tips for building fast and light Vuxe SPA - 775

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a post like found itself on the list, as tips-and-tricks-type content always get good traction in the community. This piece, written by Cristi Jora, covers the three main aspects concerning the performance of Single Page Apps which will help you build faster and lighter SPA Vue.js apps.

If you watched or attended VueConf.US, you probably remember Chris Fritz’s excellent talk. In his presentation, he spoke about a series of radical tweaks and unlocked possibilities that provide productivity boosts and help you write better Vue applications. Do yourself a favor and give the presentation or the piece another look.

There are quite a few code editors to choose from when working with Vue.js. Which is the most relevant or efficient? Unfortunately, there’s no single correct answer. But according to Evan You, the creator of Vue.js and Adam Jahr, instructor at Vue Mastery, Visual Studio Code is one of the best choices. Jahr also used the piece to expand a bit on the subject and show you how to optimize VS code.

Source: https://medium.com/vue-mastery

#9 Things that won’t work with Vue - 811

If you ever thought that everything will ALWAYS work with Vue, you might be in for a little disappointment. Unless you read the documentation very carefully, you’re bound to run into some issues during development with Vue. If you want to save yourself some time, check out this lessons learned-type post by Winner Crespo.

#8 Vue API calls in a smart way - 844

There are some different approaches to making calls in the API out there and it’s good to know their pros and cons before you decide to stick with your chosen one. This article is an introduction to the RepositoryFactory pattern that worked best for Jorge Nieto’s projects—given the success he found with the pattern, he decided to share his story and turn it into a real-life example.

You may ask: “What’s the fuss about Vue CLI if it doesn’t even add any new features to your app?” Anthony Gore takes the question on in a brilliant, witty way, bringing up a number of solid arguments that are worth your consideration at the very least. Besides, the text includes a handful of memes, always a worthy addition. After reading this, you’ll probably fall in love with both this particular tool and Anthony’s writing style.

Remember #14 on this list? Well, NativeScript-Vue 2.0 ended up attracting even more attention. Jen Looper unleashed unto the world a beautiful, new way of building downloadable mobile apps for iOS and Android. In the post, she also revealed some apps already built using the new approach and announced recently introduced changes.

#5 How not to Vue - 1005

A very well aggregated and useful list of things you should avoid when developing a Vue.js application. Whether you’re a junior or an experienced dev, I’m sure the list will prove helpful to you. The piece includes statements such as “Vue is not a wizard” and “Mixins are fine.” Got your attention? Good, now go ahead and join the 5,000+ clappers on Medium.

#4 Evan You previews Vue - 1016

Coming in fourth is Evan You’s preview of Vue 3, announced recently in Toronto. Read the summary of Evan’s talk to learn how the team is planning to make the new version of this framework faster, smaller, more native-friendly, easier to use, and with more maintainable code. I’m already excited to see these improvements on the horizon.

Source: https://medium.com/vue-mastery

#3 Say hello to Gridsome - 1030

Here we go again with static generators. A new addition to the generator lineup has recently been announced and is slated to enter the beta phase soon. In his piece, Tommy Vedvik explains the idea behind it, outlines its advantages (such as no required knowledge of GraphQL), and says what’s next on their plate.

A story of Vue CLI version 3 from the perspective of its newly launched features. Actually one particular feature, to be precise—User Interface. It will improve the workflow of every Vue.js developer and enable them to create, update, and manage projects. The Medium post presentes every little aspect of Vue UI, with the help of useful pictures and comprehensive explanations. Can’t wait to see this tool in full bloom.

Seems like every piece of news by Evan You hits the mark. The winner of the 2018 ranking is his article providing an in-depth overview of the next major version of Vue.js. One of the top highlights:

Functional components can finally be plain functions — however, async components will now need to be explicitly created via a helper function.

And that’s just a tiny sneak peek of all the planned improvements that are coming in 2019.

Source: https://medium.com/the-vue-point