Why an HTML-first approach outperformed heavy SPA frameworks for our website
Pulled from the oven just right. Trustworthy, fact-dense, deeply satisfying.
Summary
The article discusses how junior and mid-level developers have become overly reliant on heavy SPA frameworks like React, often defaulting to them without considering simpler, HTML-first approaches. The author shares their experience of building an HTML-first website that saw massive growth, arguing that modern web development has lost sight of fundamentals. The piece advocates for a return to simpler, more performant web development practices and critiques the industry's reflexive adoption of complex frameworks.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledStarting a few years ago, I realized some junior and medior engineers never once considered the possibility of building a website (app, experience, etc.) in anything other than a heavy SPA framework.
If you directly asked 'Can you build a website without React?' they know the answer is obviously 'Yes.' However, if you asked them to build a new website, they would unthinkingly start a new React project, mostly out of familiarity and a desire to get the job done.
A few of them would outright not know how to do anything else. No knowledge of how to stand up a boring old website.
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