July 27, 2026
React gets unfollowed
Removing React.js from the codebase and adapting Htmx for UI interactivity
Forum dev dumps React, and the comments instantly turn into a web religion war
TLDR: Misago is removing React from its forum software and switching to a lighter setup that serves pages mostly ready-made, hoping to cut complexity and speed things up. Commenters are split between cheering a return to simplicity and mocking it as recycled old ideas dressed up as the next big thing.
A forum software project just did something guaranteed to make web developers clutch their keyboards: it’s kicking React out and going back to a simpler model where the server sends mostly finished pages, with tiny bits of interactivity added only where needed. The developer’s complaint was brutally relatable: pages were being built twice, custom themes would briefly appear and then get overwritten, and a pile of extra code was slowing things down—especially on older phones. In plain English, the old setup looked flashy, but it made the site harder to customize, heavier to load, and more annoying to maintain.
And the comments? Absolute feast. One camp was basically yelling, “Finally, sanity!” Supporters said this lightweight approach is perfect for forums, which are mostly text, buttons, and the occasional poll—not a full-blown app that needs a Hollywood special-effects budget. One fan even bragged they use this style for nearly all their web apps and called it “pleasant,” which in developer-speak is practically a standing ovation.
But the backlash was spicy. Critics rolled their eyes at the hype, with one calling the new tool “a solution in search of a problem” and warning it ignores 20 years of hard lessons. Another jabbed that you can’t cheaply shove the front-end onto a content delivery network anymore. Even the jokes had bite: the whole pitch was compared to dusting off old-school jQuery tricks from 20 years ago and pretending it’s a revolution. Nostalgia? Regression? Common sense? The comment section could not decide—and that’s exactly why it’s delicious.
Key Points
- •Misago currently renders pages with Django templates, embeds the same data as JSON, and then uses React.js to replace much of the HTML after JavaScript loads.
- •The article identifies duplicated implementation across Django templates, React.js components, views, routes, APIs, serializers, and translation files as a major problem.
- •The current architecture is described as harming customization, increasing response-generation overhead, enlarging downloads, and reducing performance on slower devices.
- •Plugin development is described as more complex because plugins must support both server-rendered templates and React.js components, plus associated build tooling.
- •The proposed alternative is to use HTMX with Django to update dynamic sections of server-rendered HTML without JSON serialization or dedicated React.js code.