More and more of us believe that Web development has become far too complicated, and that it's time to go back to basics: a local Web server, a text editor and a browser!
Write code and run it! That's the magic of scripting languages!
If you really want lots of tools for development, then leave the Web and develop native applications, with strongly typed languages, compilers, linkers and so on.
Today, all browsers support ECMAScript modules, import maps, dynamic module import, module preloading and modern Web APIs.
Build systems and compilers are no longer necessary. Bundling JavaScript code into huge files is no longer a good idea (read this blog post for more information).
We only keep a minification process for JavaScript, CSS and HTML files at deployment time.
We develop like this now, favoring the HTML-First approach in the spirit of HTMX, Turbo/Stimulus or Unpoly.
Even Microsoft, when developing Edge, got in on the act by abandoning React.
For more complex responsive user interfaces, we use lightweight libraries like Room (4 kB), which doesn't use Virtual DOM or JSX. And we get high-performance web applications with little JavaScript code compared to applications developed with React or others.
To demonstrate this, we've developed the WikiRoom Web application, which has the same functionality as WikiTok, the application that's been making the buzz lately because it was developed in just a few hours using AI Claude and React 18. Well, WikiRoom uses less than 14 kB of JavaScript, compared with nearly 170 kB for WikiTok! More information on this article on our blog.
And we're also doing this as part of our eco-responsible approach to reducing the energy consumption of the software we produce and the energy we use to produce it.
We don't need the latest trendy machine with tens of gigabytes of memory or cores!
The most environmentally-friendly terminal is the one you continue to use.
By not using obese libraries, we deliver to our users well-optimized applications and websites that try to consume less energy and avoid the need for the latest terminal.
So, in 2025, it's possible to simplify web development, and we encourage you to do so, especially if you have a bit of an ecological conscience.
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