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Ask HN: How does one build large front end apps without a framework like React?

94 points thepianodan | 2 comments | 17 Oct 25 10:50 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source

I had a mind-blown-moment when I learnt that Obsidian was built without any frontend JS framework. ( https://forum.obsidian.md/t/what-framework-did-the-developer-use-to-create-obsidian-desktop-application/30724/11 )

The benefits, I can see.

    JS frameworks move really quickly, and when we're working on a large, long-term project, it sucks when big breaking changes are introduced after only a couple of years. Sticking to slow-moving web standards (which are quite mature by now) increases the longevity of a project.

    And the stability also means that more time is spent on delivering features, rather than on fixing compatibility issues.

    There is also the benefit of independence. The project's success is not tied to the framework's success. And it also makes the project more secure, from supply chain attacks and such.

    Because there is no "abstraction layer" of a framework, you also have greater control over your project, and can make performance optimizations at a lower level.

    I feel not using a framework can even make us a better developer. Because we know more of what's going on.
There are benefits to using frameworks too, I'm not here to challenge that.

But this alternative of using none... it seems rarely talked about. I want to learn more about building large (preferably web-based) software projects with few dependencies.

Do you have any suggestions on how to learn more about it? Are there any open source projects you know which are built this way? It needs to be large, complex, app-like, and browser based. I'm more interested in the frontend side.

Thank you!

1. sehugg ◴[17 Oct 25 12:25 UTC] No.45615949[source]▶
Spritemate is built with TypeScript + Vite + JQuery, and has a pretty organized structure: https://github.com/Esshahn/spritemate (I do not condone its use of the 'any' type everywhere tho)

I wouldn't use JQuery for a new project, as you can do almost everything it does with straight DOM manipulation. But there are still some strategic vanilla JS/TS packages that come in handy, e.g. clipboard, mousetrap, file-saver, split.js.

Web Components with Lit is kinda fun, though you'll have to deal with DOM shadow roots or disable them.

I would challenge that using a framework leads to less security. In vanilla JS you've got to use something like dompurify religiously to avoid XSS bugs, and you're tempted by the shiny candy-like innerHTML attribute.

replies(1): >>45617499 #
2. thepianodan ◴[17 Oct 25 14:54 UTC] No.45617499[source]▶
Thanks for the reference! Yep, part of why I made this post is to see how I can avoid the innerHTML attribute. Do you think Obsidian's use of dompurify is closely related to their choice of going vanilla?