Managing Packages Efficiently
When it comes to handling front end non-development packages, my go-to choice is Bower. It effectively manages both minified and non-minified versions of your packages.
Optimal Build Tools
Consider using either Gulp or Grunt, with Gulp being my personal favorite. Implementing Gulp tasks can significantly enhance your code:
- minifying css and js files
- compressing and optimizing images
- concatenating and caching for reduced server calls
- versioning packages
- automatically injecting project dependencies
- automatically adding external dependencies
- conducting static analysis on js and css
- automated builds upon code changes
- facilitating deployment processes
- ensuring proper testing procedures
Utilizing Node.js
If possible, rely on Node.js for all your development tools and utilize Bower for release plugins. Many node packages used in production apps have corresponding Bower installations.
Additional Notes
It's advisable not to manually remove anything from Node without understanding potential dependencies. To clean up unnecessary clutter, consider using npm rimraf to delete the node_modules folder followed by npm install. Ensure to review your package.json to eliminate any unneeded saved packages.