These 'just use HTML' shitposts really miss the mark. Every time I see this stuff it is a form with two fields, come on. Realistically, a lot of applications are forms, but they are much more complex. E.g. fields that can be added and removed, conditional logic depending on selected state, and most importantly a non-flat data structure.
Once you start bolting on all this stuff to HTML, congratulations, you have built a web framework.
I am not advocating that everyone should start using React. But HTML forms are severely underpowered, and you cannot escape JavaScript at some point. I would love it if forms could consume and POST JSON data, that would make this all a lot easier in a declarative manner.
> Every time I see this stuff it is a form with two fields
Yup. No-one is suggesting using React for a login form with 0 interactivity
"why do we even need forklifts?! people can pick their laptops up with their hands!" ok thanks
Well, nowadays, you can implement a lot of logic for forms using HTML and pure CSS, without JS at all. Example:
I’m not saying it’s better (it’s not). Just saying there’s a lot of space between “just HTML” and “a web framework”. It’s worth considering these other options instead of going “full React” from the get-go.