I agree - check out VanJS for minimal reactive library: https://vanjs.org
You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
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Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#82Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#83 > You don't need React
Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#84I think React is way overused but every time you see a blog post with "replace it with this pet mini project instead" I groan because you know the reaction is going to be "what about X feature", and of course the mini framework doesn't do it. I've found the perfect balance to be Astro with Preact. You will inevitably have some piece of functionality that's complex (say, a contact form) and you can lean into Preact fo…
> You will inevitably have some piece of functionality that's complex (say, a contact form) And this is why it pays to just learn React. It's never been easier. A contact form is not that complex. React won. The LLM can author it pretty well at this point, probably better (and cheaper) than at least 50% of FE devs. Treating a "contact form" as a potential fork in the road in 2026 is just sad.
> And this is why it pays to just learn React.
It pays you, the developer, yes. It does not benefit the user.
> A contact form is not that complex.
Correct, my example was not a great one, just the first one that came to mind. Using a giant JS framework to do something as simple as a contact form should be seen as a failure of development culture.
> Treating a "contact form" as a potential fork in the road in 2026 is just sad.
Choosing React as a one size fits all because it suits you as the developer, with little to no consideration about what suits the user... that's what is sad in 2026. But it's where web development culture is. There should be no "React won". There is no need for there to be one winner. As developers we ought to be able to tailor solutions instead of be lazy.
Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#85Posts like this remind me how much JavaScript could benefit from something like Lisp's quasiquote. JSX is a terrible creation but templating in JS is pretty unpleasant without quotation operators. That said, I think Mithril's 'm' function did it the best of all libraries I have seen.
Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#86I ran a web dev company for decades. There are two web sites we created I would bet money you have visited so we weren't a small, one-off shop. We had never seen the need or desire to use React. We couldn't understand why anyone else would use it either. It was too big and too complicated versus just using the fundamental elements of programming for the web. So there.
Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#87I think React is way overused but every time you see a blog post with "replace it with this pet mini project instead" I groan because you know the reaction is going to be "what about X feature", and of course the mini framework doesn't do it. I've found the perfect balance to be Astro with Preact. You will inevitably have some piece of functionality that's complex (say, a contact form) and you can lean into Preact fo…
Every time I see this kind of pet project I see whether they are addressing any actual issue of React or whether they don’t like React merely because it is popular. I especially look at whether they do state management or VDOM diffing differently from React. I find that if a project had done that, it is likely something the author was very proud of and was front-and-center. And there have been some interesting ideas…
> Every time I see this kind of pet project I see whether they are addressing any actual issue of React
Then I think you're looking at those projects from the wrong angle. The point the author is making is that React is often used in situations where VDOM or complex state management aren't actually necessary. If all you're doing is e.g. validating a few form fields then neither is needed. But people use it anyway because React has become the default for frontend engineering no matter what.
Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#88Re: You don't need React: creating a minimal UI library in Vanilla JavaScript
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're showing your ignorance here. Different frameworks have different ways of working that can lead to better or worse performance on client devices, no matter what Fable spits out for you. You owe it to your users to care.
Have you tired using several billion Fable tokens in production? It will do whatever you want. So you can still have your opinions on what works best. But it doesn't matter much, it's not 2025 anymore. E.g. always use Rust instead of Python
Ah. I see. A troll account.
That explains the 7.5 year account age and only 2 karma.