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Having worked as a frontend dev for a while, my observation is this - because the UI is closer to the user, and closer to the product side (for consumer-facing

Having worked as a frontend dev for a while, my observation is this - because the UI is closer to the user, and closer to the product side (for consumer-facing apps), it has faster iteration cycles, doubling or tripling the rate of technology decisions that are made. You'd never rewrite an API twice in a year, but maybe you'd rebuild your site or interface that often, if you're responding to users. With increased demand for tools comes more supply - more libraries and frameworks with more stars and follows. The reason we don't see this in the mobile world is because it's a much more closed ecosystem - there's no open spec for mobile like there is for browsers.

dnomad 8y ago
Yeah, there's a perfect storm that happens on the frontend. (1) Users are more empowered and expected to continually change requirements all the time. (2) The underlying technology is broken. Specifically, there is no component model that makes it easy to compose existing components. Every frontend app reinvents not just the wheel but the tools to cut the stone. (3) There is no UI component model provided by the browser. Every webapp looks and behaves completely different from every other webapp. There are no common metaphors, common components, common fonts, common icons or even best practices. Every company writes their own UI kit and interface guidelines. (4) Thanks to the highly intelligent fuckers at Google/Facebook/Yahoo everybody has very high expectations when it comes to Web UIs. These guys are also driving rapid innovation in the space. Unlike Windows apps -- which haven't changed much in 25 years -- Webapps seem to become dramatically different every 3-5 years. The result is the wild west meets post-apocalyptic disaster where everything is constantly changing and the developers don't have the tools to actually manage or control this change.
- josephcooney 8y ago
  I agree. Throw into the mix non functional aesthetic changes. Even if the actual requirements/functionality didn't change new design trends would mean you'd be at minimum re-skinning/themeing your site/web app every 18 months or so just so it doesn't look "dated".
- jonnytran 8y ago
  Makes you wonder why there isn't something like Rack or WSGI for front-end components. If there was one interface that all frameworks adhered to, you could, in theory, use components written in one framework from within another framework. Elm sort of does this. Not sure about others.

dnomad 8y ago

Yeah, there's a perfect storm that happens on the frontend. (1) Users are more empowered and expected to continually change requirements all the time. (2) The underlying technology is broken. Specifically, there is no component model that makes it easy to compose existing components. Every frontend app reinvents not just the wheel but the tools to cut the stone. (3) There is no UI component model provided by the browser. Every webapp looks and behaves completely different from every other webapp. There are no common metaphors, common components, common fonts, common icons or even best practices. Every company writes their own UI kit and interface guidelines. (4) Thanks to the highly intelligent fuckers at Google/Facebook/Yahoo everybody has very high expectations when it comes to Web UIs. These guys are also driving rapid innovation in the space. Unlike Windows apps -- which haven't changed much in 25 years -- Webapps seem to become dramatically different every 3-5 years. The result is the wild west meets post-apocalyptic disaster where everything is constantly changing and the developers don't have the tools to actually manage or control this change.

josephcooney 8y ago
I agree. Throw into the mix non functional aesthetic changes. Even if the actual requirements/functionality didn't change new design trends would mean you'd be at minimum re-skinning/themeing your site/web app every 18 months or so just so it doesn't look "dated".
jonnytran 8y ago
Makes you wonder why there isn't something like Rack or WSGI for front-end components. If there was one interface that all frameworks adhered to, you could, in theory, use components written in one framework from within another framework. Elm sort of does this. Not sure about others.