Much of the JavaScript ecosystem can be cringeworthy, but recent versions of JavaScript are far better than the days of ES3, and libraries like Babel are high-q

Much of the JavaScript ecosystem can be cringeworthy, but recent versions of JavaScript are far better than the days of ES3, and libraries like Babel are high-quality. With modern improvements to XMLHttpRequest, the URL object, and JSX (actually quite easy to use without React), I suspect that creating a fast, modern website using only Babel, Yarn, and a few polyfills (mainly for IE) is quite easy and enjoyable. Of course, if you want a styled date field, autocomplete field, etc., you'll want to use a library, which may have its own dependencies. As for CSS, everyone agrees that flexbox is a godsend.