[davely]

I work on a React based web app in my Day Job and have genuinely enjoyed it.

That said, it always feels like so much boilerplate to get up and running for a greenfield project (and things like NextJS or even TanStack Start add a lot of things that might be overkill for a simple web app).

For some vibe coded side projects with Claude, I’ve been working with just using handlebars templates with Express and it has been pretty glorious!

I don’t think I’d recommend building a complex web app this way, but for some mild JS interactivity, form submission, etc, handlebars works.

Bonus: I find it much easier to get 100 across the board on Lighthouse scores this way.

[thedelanyo]

> and have genuinely enjoyed it.

People who haven't work with other frameworks like svelte, Vue - normally say they are enjoying React.

[davely]

This is a bit reductive.

For what it’s worth, I’ve used Vue and don’t like it (stuff like custom directives that are nonstandard html, not as explicit about event handling and data flow, etc).

I’ve seen a lot of buzz (particularly on HN) about Svelte but have lacked the motivation to try it.

[fud101]

I wish more people would criticise Svelte but most people just don't care because it's irrelevant. It's like complaining about Backbone or something, not worth the effort.

[PaulHoule]

I wanted to like Vue but when I tried it I didn't. For writing ordinary business applications I wish React reified lists more than it does, but what I like about React is that I know how to draw absolutely anything with it, including 3-d worlds, see

https://aframe.io/

[tomashubelbauer]

I've tried both and disliked both. Already before I did I was wary of patronizing-feeling statements like these, though. The Vue community in particular, or at least the vocal pockets of it I've come across online, seem like a web dev counterpart to the Rust evangelism strike force.

[smrq]

Vue and Svelte both introduce too much mystery-symbol syntax for my taste, and two way data binding has felt bad since Angular 1.

[tomashubelbauer]

> it always feels like so much boilerplate to get up and running for a greenfield project

This is why I love Bun + React. The setup is so easy I can do it off memory. I always hated boilerplate, templates etc. so this is a huge selling point for me.