Developers Rail Against JavaScript ‘Merchants of Complexity’ - The New Stack
Perhaps the tide is finally turning against complex web frameworks.
Let’s take a meandering waltz through what other people have to say about simplicity.
Perhaps the tide is finally turning against complex web frameworks.
Number one:
Do things in the most straightforward way possible. It’s easy to fall into the trap of clever solutions, or clever applications of technology, or overbuilding something because you’re anticipating the future. Don’t do it. You will hate yourself for it later when you have to maintain it.
Can we please stop adding complexity to our systems just so we can do it in JavaScript? If you can do it without JavaScript, you probably should. Tools shouldn’t add complexity.
You don’t need a framework to render static content to the end user. Stop creating complex solutions to simple problems.
It would be much harder for a 15-year-old today to View Source and understand the code structure that built the website they’re on. Every site is layered with analytics, code snippets, javascript plugins, CMS data, and more.
This is why the simplicity of HTML and CSS now feels like a radical act. To build a website with just these tools is a small protest against platform capitalism: a way to assert sustainability, independence, longevity.
The bar to overriding browser defaults should be way higher than it is.
Amen!
A question via email…
Balancing the ledger.
Inside me there are two wolves. They’re both JavaScript.
The importance of revisiting past decisions. Especially when it comes to the web.
Defining the inputs instead of trying to control the outputs.