February 20, 2026
Framework wars, round two
Web Components: The Framework-Free Renaissance
Frameworks out, built‑ins in? Devs split between “freedom” and “you’ll regret this”
TLDR: Browsers now offer built‑in tools to build apps without big frameworks, promising stability and fewer upgrades. Commenters are split: some love the “no build step” freedom, others say missing reactivity and uneven features (like declarative Shadow DOM) make it a DIY headache, with real blockers like the passkey issue.
The article declares a “framework‑free” comeback: modern browsers now have built‑in parts (aka Web Components) that can replace big names like React and Vue. Cue the comments section turning into a sequel titled The DOM Strikes Back. Fans cheer the promise of no upgrade treadmill and code that lasts years; skeptics yell “slow down, cowboy.”
The loudest pushback: reactivity—the automatic updating magic many devs expect. One seasoned user fires off, “they don’t provide reactivity; you have to write that yourself,” accusing the piece of overselling. Another twisty take says the real win isn’t components at all, but native ES modules (browser‑loaded code) so you can skip the scary build tools. Meanwhile, one dev dreams of a simpler future but grumbles that declarative Shadow DOM still isn’t everywhere, forcing copy‑paste templates. Less drama, more paperwork.
On the culture side, a commenter claims teams get scared into frameworks for “structure,” while another confesses they went all‑in on Lit (a lightweight library for Web Components) before crawling back to React—like a tech rom‑com with a messy breakup. And a bold attempt to ship a <passkey> form element hits a wall because of a standards gap, linked here: issue #814.
Bottom line: the article paints a rosy, framework‑free future, but the community is split between browser‑native bliss and DIY headaches—with jokes about “No Build Step Summer” and memes of the browser whispering, “it’s not you, it’s your bundler.”
Key Points
- •Modern browsers provide native capabilities—Custom Elements, Shadow DOM, templates/slots, and the event system—to build modular, reactive UIs without frameworks.
- •Web standards offer long-term stability and backward compatibility, reducing maintenance compared with framework upgrade cycles and deprecations.
- •Component communication can use native CustomEvent bubbling for upward flow and attributes/properties for downward data, avoiding global state and prop drilling.
- •A data-down/events-up pattern can be implemented using web standards, similar to patterns popularized by React but without library abstractions.
- •Developers can start with minimal custom elements and iteratively enhance them toward production readiness, lowering the entry barrier.