I like to use Bootstrap for CSS, because I'm not a designer and I want a graceful experience on all devices. Plain JS can easily be thrown in there. You can als

I like to use Bootstrap for CSS, because I'm not a designer and I want a graceful experience on all devices. Plain JS can easily be thrown in there. You can also just use the default HTML form submission behavior. Bootstrap offers some helpful validation styles for client side form verification. Unfortunately, to remove CSS bloat from your completed Bootstrap template you need to use a node based script. Check "Purge CSS", although there is another one. No need to get into bloated SPA frameworks or JS on the backend. From my side JS is just a necessary evil for webdev. Prefer to keep it in the browser where it is required. For the backend, choose a sane language you are comfortable with. Using a WASM blob + canvas/WebGL as a client is another option which is increasingly appealing. You still need some JS glue, but you're free from some of the browser madness. Depending on how you build your client, you maybe able to recycle it into a standalone binary.