astroturf VS Mithril.js

CSS-in-JS has been a challenge – we're currently using https://github.com/astroturfcss/astroturf which seemed the simplest zero-runtime-cost option back when we were looking, but the library is starting to feel a bit under-maintained (if the author of Astroturf reads this, we love your work and will do whatever we can to support you in it!). But it's worked well for us over the last 2 years.

Happy to share a component example. We also use a small library for managing CSS classes in a typed fashion, which can also be used by our UI test code to target various elements. So that does add a bit of cryptic boilerplate, but the repo README has an example component with syntax highlighting:

Try https://github.com/4Catalyzer/astroturf

On the other side of our titular question is styled-components. While I'm talking about styled-components specifically, the topics and concepts here apply to any CSS-in-JS provider (e.g. emotion). There is a smaller CSS-in-JS library called astroturf that aims to give the developer the best of all worlds, so the limitations I'll discuss later on don't apply there. But be careful with smaller projects/ones that claim you can have it all! You are wading through uncharted territory :)

I don’t enjoy React much, but (as I’ve commented before) I do love Mithril (https://mithril.js.org). Immediate-mode UI via a vDOM, like React, but small, simple, and with none of the reactivity complications. I’d never go back to building apps with pure JS.

You can find more information about Mithril.js on its official website.

The idea of nested function calls to build HTML is not new. Back in the hey-day of JS frameworks, this was a common vdom pattern. I kinda miss [MithrilJS](https://mithril.js.org/#dom-elements)

I have mixed feelings about React. I like it better than jQuery, and better than other JS frameworks I’ve used.

But I much prefer Mithril (https://mithril.js.org/), which offers the same immediate-mode advantages (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19746235) but without the crazy complex dependency-tracking reactivity.

I rather liked this comment on React: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38640051

Vue with Vite (the builder/runner) is a stable, open source option. It is really a lightweight start where you're mostly writing HTML with interpolated data, and Vue is updating values correctly and performantly. Just build your reactive HTML app in one file and break into separate components as you're feeling the spirit. https://vuejs.org/guide/quick-start

Mithril if you just want to drop in want a tiny, complete reactive library that doesn't require a build step--this one is most like what you might end up creating in a large jQuery app. You can understand everything from the homepage. https://mithril.js.org/

HTMX if you really like HTML conventions. This doesn't feel jQuery-like and depends on your approach to your server app. https://htmx.org/

React is still has gratuitous complexity. If you need some React like, take a look at mithril which is simpler and much smaller.

The submitter creating multiple var -> let PRs (one PR per file), was also doing this in other projects, and would've broken some of their users.

https://github.com/MithrilJS/mithril.js/pull/2880#pullreques...

And he created multiple PRs there too. And didn't follow their workflow...