Ask HN: What web development stack do you prefer in 2024?

On the front end side of things, I feel that React is not the default framework as Svelte and HTMX are everywhere (or maybe I am reading too much Twitter). On the backend side, I think it is a bit more open and has to vary from project to project based on specific needs but would love to hear what you are using and why anyway.

For many, I realize the answer may be to use the tools you are most comfortable with but wanted to ask just to see.

For more context, I’m essentially revisiting an app I built from 2015-2017, before I became employed in the industry. I built it with Django and Ember. Long story short, Django upgrades nicely, while anything requiring Node that was built that long ago is “lost in time, like tears in rain…”

Yes, I’m resentful. And yes, I hope I never have to touch Node/NPM again.

Some other great options are Elixir/Phoenix/LiveView (I used it at my most recent job, and loved it) and Ruby/Rails/Hotwire. Hotwire is not coupled tightly with Rails, but using it with Rails would be the path of least resistance.

Personally, I went back to Django for reasons including:

- Data modeling and migrations with Django’s ORM are top-notch.

- Auth and admin which come out of the box are key for getting to an MVP quickly.

- I find Django’s template language more intuitive and more elegant than erb and EEx/HEEx.

- Python is still king in the data world, so it’s easy to integrate with mature DS/ML/AI libraries.

- If I need to find talent, Python devs are everywhere.

Vanilla JS

CSS

HTML

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Frameworks:

HTMX[0]

Tailwind CSS[1]

Cash[2]

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Backend:

PHP

NodeJS

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For quick mockups & landing pages:

Webflow[3]

Carrd[4]

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Also some no-code SaaS solutions for dealing with tricky stuff like forms

[0] https://htmx.org/

[1] https://tailwindcss.com/

[2] https://kenwheeler.github.io/cash/

[3] https://webflow.com/

[4] https://carrd.co/