State of Web Technologies and Web development in year 2022

post, Oct 6, 2022 on Mitja Felicijan's blog

Initial thoughts

This post is a critique on the current state of web development. It is an +opinionated post! I will learn more about this in the future, and probably +slightly change my mind about some of the things I criticize.

I have started working on a hobby project about two weeks ago, and I wanted to +use that situation as a learning one. Trying new things, new technologies, new +tools. I always considered myself to be an adventurous person when it comes to +technology. I never shy away from trying new languages, new operating systems +etc. Likewise, I find the whole experience satisfying, and it tickles that part +of my brain that finds discovery the highest of the mountains to climb.

What I always wanted to make was a coding game, that you would play in a browser +(just to eliminate building binaries for each operating system) where you would +level up your character and go into these scriptable battles. You know, RPG +elements.

So, the natural way to go would be some sort of SPA (single page application) +with basic routing and some state management. Nothing crazy.

Before we move on, I have to be transparent. Take my views on this with +a grain of salt. I have only scratched the surface with these technologies, +and my knowledge is full of gaps. This is my experience using some of these +products for the first time or in a limited capacity.

Having this out of the way, I got myself a fresh pot of coffee and down the +rabbit hole I went.

Giving React JS a spin

I first tried React JS. I kind of like it. Furthermore, +I have worked with libraries like this in the past and also wrote a couple of +them (nothing compared to that level), but I had the basic understanding of what +was going on. I rolled up a project quickly and had basic things done in a +matter of two hours, which was impressive.

I prefer using Tailwind CSS for my styling +pleasures, and integrating that was also a painless experience. It was actually +nice to see that some things got better with time. In about 2 minutes I got +Tailwind working, and I was able to use classes at my disposal. All that +postcss stuff was taken care of by adding a couple of things in config files +(all described really well in their documentation).

It is not that different from Vue which I have had more encounters with in the +past People will probably call me a lunatic for saying this. But you know, it is +the truth. Same same, but different. I still believe that using libraries like +this is beneficial. I am not a JavaScript purist. They all have their quirks, +but at the end of the day, I truly believe it’s worth it.

Bundlers and Transpilers

I still reject calling Typescript to +JavaScript conversion a "compilation process". I +call them transpilers, and I don’t care! 😈

And if you want to fight this, take a look at this little chart and be mad at +it!

Compiling vs Transpiling

The first one that I ever used was webpack, and it +was an absolute horrific experience. Saying this, it is an absolutely fantastic +tool. I felt more like a config editor than actually a programmer. To be fair, +I am a huge fan of make, and you can do as +you wish with this information. I like my build systems simple.

Also, isn’t it interesting that we need something like +Babel to make JavaScript code work in a browser that has +only one client side scripting available, which is by no accident also +JavaScript. Why? I know why it’s needed, but seriously, why.

I haven’t used Babel for years now. Or if I did, it was packaged together by +some other bundler thingy. Which does not make things better, but at least I +didn’t need to worry about it.

I really don’t like complicated build systems. I really don’t like abstracting +code and making things appear magical. The older I get, the more I appreciate +clear and clean, expressive code. No one-liners, if possible.

But I have to give props to Vite! This was one of the +best developer experiences I have ever had. Granted, it still has magical +properties. And yes, it still is a bundler and abstracts things to the nth +degree. But at least it didn’t force me to configure 700 lines of JSON. And I +know that this makes me a hypocrite. You can’t have it all. Nonetheless, my +reasoning here is, if using bundlers is inevitable, then at least they should +provide an excellent developer experience.

I also noticed that now the catch-all phrase is “blazingly fast” and “lightning +fast” and “next generation” and stuff like that. I mean, yeah, tools should get +faster with time. But saying that starting a project now takes 2 seconds instead +of 20 seconds is something that is a break it or make it kind of a deal is +ridiculous. I don’t mind waiting a couple of seconds every couple of days. I +also don’t create 700 projects every day, and also who does? This argument has +no bite. All I want is a decent reload time (~100ms is more than good enough for +me) and that is it.

You don’t need to sell me benefits if I only get them when I start a fresh +project, and then try to convince me that this is somehow changing the fate of +the universe. First of all, it is not. And second, if this is your only argument +for your tool, I would advise you to maybe re-focus your efforts to something +else. Vite says that startup times are really fast. And if that would be the +only thing differentiating it from other tools, I would ignore it. But it has +some really compelling features like Hot Module +Replacement that +really works well. It was a joy to use.

So, I will be definitely using Vite in the future.

Jam Stack, Mach Stack no snack

Let's get a couple of the acronyms out of the way, so we all know what we are +talking about:

  • Jam Stack - JavaScript, API and Markup
  • Mach Stack - Microservices, API-first, Cloud-Native SaaS, Headless

It is so hard to follow all these new trendy things happening around you, that +it makes you have a massive FOMO all the time. But on the other hand, you +also don’t want to be that old fart that doesn’t move with the times and still +writes his trusty jQuery code while listening to Blink 182 All the small things +on full blast. It’s a good song, don’t get me wrong, but there are other songs +out there.

I have to admit. Vercel is really cool! Love the +simplicity of the service. You could compare it to +Netlify. I haven’t tried Netlify extensively, but +from a couple of experimental deployments I still prefer Vercel. It is much more +streamlined, but maybe this is bias in me. I really like Vercel’s Analytics, +which give you a Core Web Vitals report in their +admin console. Kind of cool, I’m not going to lie.

This whole idea about frontend and backend merging into SSR (server-side +rendering) looks so good +on paper. It almost doesn’t come with any major flaws.

But when it comes to the actual implementation, there is much to be desired. +I’m going to lump Next.js and +Nuxt.js together because they are essentially the same +thing, just a different library.

Now comes the reality. Mixing backend and frontend in this manner creates this +weird mental model where you kind of rely on magical properties of these +libraries. You relinquish control over to them for better developer experience. +But is that really true? Initially, I was so stoked about it. However, the more +I used them, the more I felt uncomfortable. I felt dirty, actually. Maybe this +is because I come from old ways of doing things where you control every step of +request, and allowing something to hijack it feels like blasphemy.

More than that, some pretty significant technical issues arose from this. How do +you do JWT token authentication? You put it in api folder and then do some +fetching and storing into local state management. But doing this also requires +some tinkering with await/async stuff on the React/Vue side of things. And then +you need to write middleware for it. And the more I look at it, the more I see +that this whole thing was not meant to be used like this, and it all feels and +looks like a huge hack.

The issue I have with this is that they over-promise and under-deliver. They +want to be an all-in-one replacement for everything, and they don’t deliver on +this promise. And how could they?! We have to be fair. It is an impossible task.

They sell you NoOps, but +when you need to accomplish something a little bit more out of the scope of +Hello World, you have to make hacky decisions to make it work. And having a +deployment strategy that relies on many moving parts is never a good idea. +Abstracting too much is usually a sign of bad architecture.

Lately, this has become a huge trend that will for sure bite us in the future. +And let’s not get it twisted. By doing this, PaaS providers like +AWS, GCS, etc. obscure +their billing, and you end up paying more than you really should. And even if +that is not an issue, it comes down to the principle of things. AWS is known for +having multiple “currencies“ inside their projects like write operations, read +operations, etc. which add up, and it creates this impossible to track billing +scheme. It all behaves suspiciously like a pay-to-win game you could find on +mobile phones that scams you out of your money.

And as far as I am concerned, the most important thing was me not coding the +functionalities for the game I want to make. I was battling libraries and cloud +providers. How to deploy, what settings are relevant. Bad documentation or +multiple versions of achieving the same thing. You are getting bombarded by all +this information, and you don’t really have any control over it. +Production-ready code becomes a joke, essentially. Especially if you tend to +work on that project for a prolonged period of time.

All of these options end up creating a fatigue. What to choose, what not to +choose. Unnecessary worrying about if the stack will still be deemed worthy in +six months. There is elegance in simplicity.

JavaScript UI frameworks and libraries work in cycles. Every six months or +so, a new one pops up, claiming that it has revolutionized UI development. +Thousands of developers adopt it into their new projects, blog posts are +written, Stack Overflow questions are asked and answered, and then a newer +(and even more revolutionary) framework pops up to usurp the throne. +— Ian Allen

To many options

And this jab at these libraries and cloud providers is not done out of malice. +It is a real concern that I have about them. In my life, I have seen +technologies come and go, but the basics always stick around. So surrendering +all the power you have to a library or a cloud provider is in my opinion a +stupid move.

Tailwind CSS still rocks!

You know, many people say negative things about Tailwind. And after a lot of +deliberation, I came to the conclusion that Tailwind is good for two types of +developers. Tailwind is good for a complete noob or a senior developer. A +complete noob doesn’t really care about inner workings of CSS, and a senior +developer also doesn’t care about CSS. Well, at least, not anymore. And +developers in between usually have the biggest issues with it. Not always of +course, but in a lot of cases.

I like the creature comforts of Tailwind. Being utility first would make me +argue that it is actually more similar to Sass or +Less than something like Bootstrap. Not technically, but +ideologically. After I started using it, I never looked back. I use it every +time I need to do something web related.

Writing CSS for general things feels like going several steps back. Instead of +focusing on what you are actually trying to achieve, you focus on notations like +BEM, code structuring, optimizing HTML +size. Just doing things that make 0.1% difference. You know that saying: Early +optimization is the root of all evil. Exactly that.

I am also not saying that Tailwind is the cure for everything. Sometimes custom +CSS is necessary. But from what I found out in using it for almost two years in +a production environment (on a site getting quite a lot of traffic and +constantly being changed), I can say without any reservations that Tailwind +saved our asses countless times. We would be rewriting CSS all the time without +it. And I don’t really think writing CSS is the best way to spend my time.

I have also noticed that people who criticize Tailwind the most never actually +used it in a real project that has a long lifetime with plenty of changes that +will happen in the future.

But you know, whatever floats your boat!

Code maintainability

Somehow, people also stopped talking about maintenance. If you constantly try to +catch the latest and greatest train, you are by that logic always trying new +things. Which is a good thing if you want to learn about technologies and try +them. But for the production environment, you have to have a stable stack that +doesn’t change every 6 months.

You can lock dependencies for sure. Nevertheless, the hype train moves along +anyway. And the mindset this breeds goes against locking the code. This +bleeding-edge rolling release cycle is not helping. That is why enterprise +solutions usually look down on these popular stacks and only do bare minimum to +appear hip and cool.

With that said, I still think that progress is good, but should be taken with a +grain of salt. If your project is something that should be built once and then +rarely updated, going with the latest stack is a possible way to go. But, if you +are working on a project that lasts for years, you should probably approach it +with some level of caution. Web development is often times too volatile.

Web development has a marketing issue

I noticed that almost every project now has this marketing spin put on it. +Everything is blazingly fast now. I get it, they are competing for your +attention, but what happened to just being truthful and not inflating reality.

And in order to appeal to mass market, they leave things out of their marketing +materials. These open-source projects are now behaving more and more like +companies do. Which is a scary thought on its self.

And we are also seeing a rise in a concept of building a company in the open, +which is a good thing, don't get me wrong. But when it is using open-source to +lure people and then lock them in their ecosystem, there is where I have issues +with it.

This might be because I have been using GNU/Linux for 20 years now and have been +so beholden for my success to open-source that I see issues when open-source is +being used to trick people into a false sense of security that these projects +are built in the spirit of open-source. Because there is a difference. They are +NOT! They have a really specific goal in mind. And the open-source is being used +as a delivery system. Which is in my opinion disgusting!

Conclusion

I will end my post with this. Web development is running now in circles. People +are discovering RPC +now and this is the now the next big thing. GraphQL is +so passé. And I am so tired of it all. Of blazingly fast libraries, of all these +new technologies that are actually just a remake of old ones. Of just the +general spirit of the web. I will just use what I already know. Which worked 10 +years ago and will work 10 years after this. I will adopt a couple of little +tools like Vite. But I will not waste my time on this anymore.

It was a good exercise to get in touch with what’s new now. Nothing really +changed that much. FOMO is now cured! Now I have to get my ass back to actually +code and make the project that I wanted to make in the first place.