based on the title, I thought it was going to talk about how to build a modern front end from scratch. That is, "modern" meaning that it meets the user's expect

based on the title, I thought it was going to talk about how to build a modern front end from scratch. That is, "modern" meaning that it meets the user's expectations, fits the realities of how they are browsing, and makes use of the features of current browsers (web sockets, local storage, etc); "from scratch" meaning using only your own code written in vanilla javascript. I thought this was going to be about the fact that you can do compelling work on the front-end without needing to get bogged down in a tangled web of dependencies. I struggle to see how this qualifies as "minimalist".