Given the OP concerns I don't think Elm is the way to go. It is a very cool language and might be the future of web development BUT to get anything done require

Given the OP concerns I don't think Elm is the way to go. It is a very cool language and might be the future of web development BUT to get anything done requires mastering functional programming, the Elm way, the Elm FFI. You can't (AFAIK) just drop in a Calendar control or whatever from the outside world, because the virtual DOM only allows Elm virtual-dom children. So you have to use the one calendar control in the libraries and hope that is good enough. Then the embedding controls story is not mature enough IMO. Lots of boilerplate to bubble around the messages. Changing page on a calendar control? Yes your global state needs to deal with it. Maybe not directly know about it but some plumbing needs to be in place. I'd recommend Elm for those diehard enough to keep at it despite the quirks but not for someone who is tired of all this learning new stuff in the JS world.