The time is right for a DOM templating API

> React doesn't provide a way to explicitly bind to properties and events of DOM elements, or provide directives that apply to an element.

I didn't understand this part, can anyone shed light? What is different between what's being described here and what React does with event listeners, etc?

I think this is referring to the fact that React uses synthetic event listeners - it's cheaper to bind an event listener once at the root and do your own element matching than it is to continuously bind and unbind listeners.

https://react.dev/reference/react-dom/components/common#reac...

> React doesn't provide a way to explicitly bind to properties and events of DOM elements

We can nitpick this point because react has had a ref API for at least 5 years now. Given a ref, all DOM API are available. For events, SyntheticEvent will refer to a native event if it exists.

The SyntheticEvent abstracts vendor discrepancy. Under the hood, react can apply some optimization too.

https://legacy.reactjs.org/docs/events.html https://react.dev/reference/react-dom/components/common#reac...

The synthetic event also adds its own abstractions though. For example, the `onChange` handler in React behaves very differently to the native DOM `change` event.

And then some. Switching to react-native or other render targets can also be a doozy. Hopefully the references clarify all the features.