Not drag and drop style block building, but: 1. https://htmx.org 2. https://simplecss.org
I prefer https://picocss.com/ . Default styling just seems nicer.
Thanks didn't know that one.
Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
141–150 of 295 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#142I like https://tallstack.dev/ a lot.
But I think https://unpoly.com/ is nice also and works with any backend.
Tailwind for CSS is great too.
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#143Ignore any recommendation of React, TypeScript, Vite, or Tailwind. Here are some recommendations that don't require NPM/Node. Pick a "classless" CSS library from a site like CSSBed[1]. These are kind of like Bootstrap, except you don't need to write any CSS or apply any CSS classes in your HTML for them to work. No tooling necessary; just include a tag in your HTML document. If you'd like to try something similar to…
I've been using htmx since the intercooler days, but I'm of the opinion that just using Next.js and treating React like simple HTML is much easier for starters. Or Alpine, but not htmx. Learning all those attributes (30, not counting the HTML headers and the JS API and the CSS classes, and events like htmx:historyCacheMissError) is not as simple as some in HN make it out to be. Just look at the most basic example in…
Unfortunately, "easier" does not always equal "simpler". Next.js/CRA is "easier" because it hides a lot of the complexity away from you. In my opinion, ignoring how it all works under the hood and just blindly accepting tools/clis because "it works" sets you up for confusion down the road. I've met several JS developers who don't know that JSX gets transformed to JavaScript function calls after a build step -- they just assume it's part of how browsers work at this point. And that is mindblowing to me.
Most of what OP needs can probably be achieved with a few HTML files and tags. It will probably be a few more keystrokes than `npx create-next-app`, but the disconnect between the code he/she is writing and the final running application will be much smaller, and I think he/she will have a better understanding of what the heck is going on.
Fair point on htmx and Alpine; I have not given Alpine a shot yet, but it looks nice from the docs.
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#144[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#145Ignore any recommendation of React, TypeScript, Vite, or Tailwind. Here are some recommendations that don't require NPM/Node. Pick a "classless" CSS library from a site like CSSBed[1]. These are kind of like Bootstrap, except you don't need to write any CSS or apply any CSS classes in your HTML for them to work. No tooling necessary; just include a tag in your HTML document. If you'd like to try something similar to…
While Mithril is interesting unless you are resume-building I'd avoid anything React-like until you are a small team and just go Vanilla JS with events, it can go a long way if you are a solo dev, especially if you have a backend experience and can write clear and simple code.
Definitely agree with that. Vanilla JS has gotten very powerful in the last 10 years.
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#146This thread is amazing. Every other comment mentions a new tool I've never heard of. And I thought building APIs is hard. Ignorance is bliss
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#147I am in a similar situation as you (with the addition that I am an amateur dev).
I use either Quasar, a Vue3 framework (vue it's very easy to learn and quasar does all the heavy lifting, plus has plenty of components), or recently Vite with Tailwind CSS (this allows you to better control the style).
I would recommend to study with an empty Quasar project and build from there.
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#148[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#149Ignore any recommendation of React, TypeScript, Vite, or Tailwind. Here are some recommendations that don't require NPM/Node. Pick a "classless" CSS library from a site like CSSBed[1]. These are kind of like Bootstrap, except you don't need to write any CSS or apply any CSS classes in your HTML for them to work. No tooling necessary; just include a tag in your HTML document. If you'd like to try something similar to…
I've been using htmx since the intercooler days, but I'm of the opinion that just using Next.js and treating React like simple HTML is much easier for starters. Or Alpine, but not htmx. Learning all those attributes (30, not counting the HTML headers and the JS API and the CSS classes, and events like htmx:historyCacheMissError) is not as simple as some in HN make it out to be. Just look at the most basic example in…
As a non-js developer I found Alpine lacking. In the examples they use something like await axios get to get new content. I have no idea what any of those mean or why they have to there in that order with that syntax.
HTMX makes this incredibly simple:
Get Some HTMLRe: Ask HN: What's is your go to toolset for simple front end development?
#150JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP.