[userbinator]

I think another question following from this, that web developers should be asking themselves more, is "do we really always need a Javascript framework?" I know that "web applications" are all the rage right now, and there's this very very strong dependence on Javascript, but for a lot of purposes, a static page or form with some minor JS enhancements works really well and degrades gracefully, which can't be said of a lot of JS-only apps.

There is a trend that's present in other areas of computing too, but I notice it the most in web development --- the ever-increasing layers of abstraction, just to do something that doesn't need all that complexity. Certainly there have been good web apps that make great use of HTML, CSS, and JS, but most of the time it seems like we're finding more resource-consuming ways to provide none to little gain in functionality.

It's especially sad when people who for various reasons cannot or will not use the latest (mainstream) browsers with tons of features and resource consumption, or who do not have a high-bandwidth, low-latency connection, are essentially being locked out of easily using sites that have "upgraded", when they would've been able to use that site to do the same thing they could've done before (e.g. checking their bank account balance.) By all means use new technology to enhance, but don't use it to marginalise.