Some time ago, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea.
I was tired of the JavaScript fatigue, the endless npm installs, the config files that had config files for the other config files. So I said to myself:
"What if I just… didn't?"
No React. No Vue. No Svelte. Just pure, old-school HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
It would be a refreshing return to simplicity! Like a coding cleanse.
So I opened my text editor and started typing. At first, it felt kind of nostalgic. A little <div> here, a little <style> there, maybe a cheeky little <script> tag at the bottom. I was in control. No abstractions. Just me and the browser, like the good old days.
But by the time I got to building a basic navigation bar and a couple of cards, something shifted. The CSS was getting unreasonably specific. The layout broke every time I added anything. I started Googling things like "how to center a div again" and questioning every life choice that led me to that point.
JavaScript? Oh, I wrote a beautiful function to toggle a dropdown. And then rewrote it three more times for slightly different buttons. "Reusability" was just a distant dream, like a vacation you keep putting off.
At one point I realized I had built a less functional version of a framework. From scratch. Badly. Using duct tape, frustration, and the sheer force of nostalgia.
Eventually, I caved. I opened a terminal and typed npm create vite@latest. I’ve never felt more relieved to see a node_modules folder in my life.
Lesson learned: yes, you can build a site without a framework. But sometimes, progress exists for a reason. And I, for one, have made peace with my dependency on dependencies.
Have you ever tried to go full "vanilla" and regretted it halfway through? You're not alone.
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