We build our web apps with vanilla JS — here’s how (and why)

Julian van Loggerenberg — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 08:34:38 +0000

Hi everyone 👋

I just wanted to share a little about how my team and I build our web apps without heavy frameworks like React or Vue.

Instead, we use simple, plain JavaScript helpers to keep our UI clear and our logic easy to follow.
We build trees of HTML with functions, toggle things with plain JS, and keep the DOM our friend — no magic, no build step, no huge dependencies.

Here’s a tiny example:

var f100 = {};
f100.Begin = function (){
  m.Hide(x100);
  var h = 'Hello World!';
  f100.div = m.e('f100');
  f100.div.innerHTML = h;
  m.Show(f100);
};

We use a few simple helpers like m.Button() or m.e() for DOM stuff — that’s it.
No virtual DOM, no JSX, just readable and easy to debug.

We’ve found this style:

Loads super fast ⚡

Needs almost no setup

Feels clear to debug

Keeps the real DOM as the source of truth

I know it’s not for everyone — but if you like tiny tools and understanding exactly what’s running in your browser, maybe you’ll enjoy it too.

🗣️ Curious?
I’d love to hear what you think!
Would you use this? Or do you prefer React’s way?

Here’s our YouTube channel showing what we've built with this way so far:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ7P7mDc88Ghih8MhMkrBpA

Thanks for reading! 🌱✨

DEV Community: Julian van Loggerenberg

We build our web apps with vanilla JS — here’s how (and why)