Svelte 5 Released

Svelte 5 has been very nice to work with over the past few months. Yes, runes require you to think more carefully about lifecycles and updates. And you may end up writing a little more code initially than with svelte 4. But it serves you better in the long run with complex apps. I found a process for gradually turning a simple app into a more complex one that works for me. I iteratively move $state() runes out of .svelte files and into .svelte.ts files where I build a more abstract data-oriented structure for my app from a series of mutually linked classes. Then those runes can be re-imported into the .svelte files, or used and updated wherever you need. If you plan it right, I think it avoids the need for heavy redux-like state management. (at least I think so. I haven't worked with redux much myself)

Just my personal opinion: I love svelte for small projects but the whole runes rewrite just feels so much less ergonomic. A step in the direction away from the simplicity that drew me to svelte in the first place.

That said, there is backwards compatibility with the older syntax, so this isn’t a dealbreaker, and the team does a good job of explaining the reasons behind their selected design patterns.

(Interestingly, I’ve felt the opposite with react lately - they’ve been making the dx simpler).

This is more or less where I’ve landed lately. There are some things I really like in Svelte and Solid but not enough to overcome the massive ecosystem advantage React has.