How AI Tools Are Transforming Frontend Web Development

In recent years, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has caused fundamental changes in the IT industry, particularly in web development. AI technologies have become so widespread that they now serve both as an end and a means for many developers. In other words, dev teams frequently use AI-powered tools that facilitate various aspects of programming and at the same time get requests to implement AI functionalities in web projects.

In this article, we’ll focus on AI as an aid in the development process, highlight the pros and cons of this trend, and share the experience of the DHTMLX with AI.

AI as a New Driving Force in Web Development

AI technologies have been around for a long time, but they hit mainstream headlines with the advent of generative AI, particularly with ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022. This and other great tools like GitHub Copilot, Gemini, Claude, etc. have become a new driving force in web development. Being increasingly integrated into the development lifecycle, these instruments can be very effective at reducing the number of repetitive and mundane tasks and providing assistance in problem-solving, thereby increasing developers’ productivity. Professional developers interviewed by the Capterra team for the latest edition of the Developer Survey pointed out the following benefits of AI tools:
Developer Survey - AISource: 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey

The popularity of AI is also skyrocketing in open-source projects. According to Octoverse 2024, last year developers on GitHub created over 70,000 new public and open-source generative AI projects and made almost 60% more total contributions to all generative AI projects on GitHub. The majority of the survey respondents (73%) use tools like GitHub Copilot for coding or documentation. The GitHub team sees the correlation in increased activity among GitHub users on the platform since the launch of GitHub Copilot.

Octoverse - AI projects on GitHub
Source: Octoverse 2024

It is safe to assume that AI tools will continue evolving in 2025 and beyond, especially with the advent of new players like DeepSeek, enabling dev teams to address even more complex tasks in the development process. As for AI-powered functionalities, Gartner predicts that by 2026, more than 80% of enterprises will have used generative AI APIs or models, and/or deployed GenAI-enabled applications in production environments, up from less than 5% in 2023.

At the same time, it is important for developers to keep in mind that AI is not a universal solution for every aspect of web development. While the benefits of AI tools are undeniable, they also have some potential drawbacks such as the following:

  • accuracy concerns
  • security & privacy
  • complexity limitations
  • ethical considerations

AI tools can be a great addition to traditional JavaScript tools and libraries included in tech stacks, but it is essential to focus on a balanced use of AI, which is just gaining momentum in the industry.

Now, we want to share some insights on using AI tools with DHTMLX.

Things to Consider When Using AI Tools with JavaScript UI Components

It is fascinating what has already been achieved in the area of generative AI within a relatively short period of time. Many DHTMLX developers have experienced first-hand the benefits of AI tools in web development highlighted in the section above and give them thumbs up. However, we would like to focus on using AI tools with a JavaScript development tool, using the example of DHTMLX.

Generative AI tools are trained on publicly available data (documentation, tutorials, samples, community, etc.), therefore their effectiveness is higher when paired with widely covered tools than with lesser-known ones. The quality and quantity of resources available online for a particular dev tool are crucial for enabling AI to generate meaningful outputs.

When talking about the use of AI tools with DHTMLX JavaScript components, the results can be different depending on use-case scenarios. Since DHTMLX products have moderate coverage on the web, it is necessary to be cautious with the complexity of requests in AI tools being used.

Our team at DHTMLX has explored AI-driven coding assistance to see how well it integrates with our JavaScript libraries and components. We can say for sure that ChatGPT copes well with such tasks as detecting an error in code or styling adjustments.

Here are a couple of examples:

  • Error in code

In this snippet, events are not displayed in the Timeline view. If you ask ChatGPT to check this sample and find the reason for this issue, it will rightly note that none of the events in the dataset include the section_id property and offer the corrected code for this scenario.

  • Custom theme

If you take key CSS variables provided on this documentation page and ask ChatGPT to create a custom dark theme for your JavaScript scheduling calendar, you’ll get a modified block of code that enables the following theme:
Scheduling calendar with a custom dark themeCheck the sample >

But when it comes to more complex scenarios, which are not sufficiently covered on the internet, you are likely to face obstacles.

For instance, you may try to challenge ChatGPT or any other AI chatbot to offer a custom solution for implementing dashed links (dependencies) between tasks in the JavaScript Gantt chart component as in the example below.
Gantt chart with dependenciesCheck the sample >
The AI chatbot should provide instructions on how to achieve these goals, but most likely these solutions won’t work due to the lack of necessary training data.

The new DeepSeek tool offered a nonexistent config:

gantt.config.links = {
    link_class: function(link) {
        return "gantt_link_dashed";
    }
};

ChatGPT was right to suggest using a template for links, but assumed that links between tasks in our Gantt are drawn as SVG elements and offered incorrect styles:

.dashed-link {
    stroke-dasharray: 5, 5; /* Creates a dashed line */
    stroke: #FF0000; /* Set the color of the dashed link */
    stroke-width: 2px; /* Adjust thickness */
}

The appropriate styling in this scenario is the following:

.gantt_line_wrapper div {
    background: unset;
    border: 1px dashed #a1a4a6;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

In such cases, you must also have good knowledge of a library used in combination with AI. Otherwise, the suggestions provided by the chatbot might be misinterpreted or improperly implemented, leading to inefficient code, compatibility issues, or unexpected errors in your project.

Wrapping Up

Modern AI tools are powerful allies in web development, enabling faster workflows, reduced errors, and increased productivity. But AI chatbots are not flawless and developers should remain vigilant and continuously validate outputs to avoid inaccurate recommendations. By balancing human expertise with AI capabilities, developers can significantly enhance the quality and efficiency of their projects.

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