3 ms·

I have been coding UIs for over 20 years on and off, and I've done everything. React is a special beast, I don't like it, yes, it's a little bloated and no, I

by jariel 6y ago

I have been coding UIs for over 20 years on and off, and I've done everything. React is a special beast, I don't like it, yes, it's a little bloated and no, I don't so much think it's quite suited to the front/back of frontend division. Your problem with bloat and fragmentation though, is not about this particular form of division of labour. Front ends change a lot more for a variety of reasons. One reason the front end evolves more is there's more going on, and more detail. The backend is logic, which can be more succinctly articulated by code. That's what code is for. Most code was never designed for UI, and even HTML/CSS was never designed to do what it's doing. A simple web form can involve a lot of cross-cutting artifacts and complex statefulness. Even with a great set of tools it can be quite hard to get right, and requires a different way of thinking than on the backend. Front end problems are usually however, narrow in scope - a screen can usually only ever be so complicated, whereas on the backend, true scale can make a lot of things hard.

systemvoltage 6y ago
It's true, frontend is complex. User interfaces and interactions are full async and all behavior needs to be captured and tested. Server side code can get complex but there is a lot less externalities and requirements are well defined. My main gripe is the people behind major frontend projects - Node, npm, React, etc. and their overall philosophy. The community is a shitshow and I hate how unorganized, unplanned, broken the entire ecosystem is. The worst part is that this is celebrated.
catmanjan 6y ago
With your experience, what do you recommend?
- jariel 6y ago
  Keep it as simple as possible and focus on the experience not the technology. For straight up web or small companies, Wix, Shopify or Wordpress is fine. Look how great HN is with minimal tech. For 'Web Apps' it's obviously more difficult, and the current of tech is unavoidable, but if you stay in the middle lane and don't use anything to risky, certainly with 'backed' tech like React you should be fine. If your business is Widgets, then everything else should be 'off the shelf'. If your business actually is web-tech in some way, you can start to push the boundaries.

by jariel 6y ago

systemvoltage 6y ago

It's true, frontend is complex. User interfaces and interactions are full async and all behavior needs to be captured and tested. Server side code can get complex but there is a lot less externalities and requirements are well defined. My main gripe is the people behind major frontend projects - Node, npm, React, etc. and their overall philosophy. The community is a shitshow and I hate how unorganized, unplanned, broken the entire ecosystem is. The worst part is that this is celebrated.

catmanjan 6y ago

With your experience, what do you recommend?

jariel 6y ago
Keep it as simple as possible and focus on the experience not the technology. For straight up web or small companies, Wix, Shopify or Wordpress is fine. Look how great HN is with minimal tech. For 'Web Apps' it's obviously more difficult, and the current of tech is unavoidable, but if you stay in the middle lane and don't use anything to risky, certainly with 'backed' tech like React you should be fine. If your business is Widgets, then everything else should be 'off the shelf'. If your business actually is web-tech in some way, you can start to push the boundaries.