What are the most interesting frontend tools and frameworks emerging in 2021?
I'm about to launch a new subscription service DevTrends where I provide short weekly videos on the latest developer tools, frameworks, etc.
Currently, I've got videos on Svelte, Jamstack, XState, Deno, Snowpack, and Cloudflare Workers.
I'd like to know what frontend tools and frameworks you think are going to be important this year that I could cover?
ESBuild and Tailwind (not new but they have a lot of momentum this year)
React Server Components
Hi! I really like what Draftbit and Flutterflow are doing. Combined with Supabase I think some really great MVPs can be built fast!
Thanks for the suggestions. Honestly, I haven't heard of any of those! Looks like I've got some research to do.
The most exciting frontend is the backend, IMO.
https://docs.stimulusreflex.com/
is it like phoenix live view?
LiveView is like StimulusReflex, which predates it. But yes, they are conceptually similar.
The API and ecosystem around SR and CableReady is far nicer to work with, in my experience.
If you're using Elixir, LiveView all the way.
From https://docs.stimulusreflex.com/
LiveView was first and the model is fundamentally better supported by the Erlang VM than it is by a runtime with a GIL (Global Interpreter Lock), such as Ruby.
If you're using Ruby, though, definitely dig into StimulusReflex. 🤣
You can be forgiven the common misconception that LiveView was first, but it's simply not true. CableReady, which does all of the heavy lifting, predates LiveView by over a year. SR's repo is four days older and was something you could use, whereas LV didn't have a tagged release until Summer 2019.
CableReady: 1st README commit + tagged release May 19, 2017
StimulusReflex: 1st README commit + tagged release Oct 14, 2018
LiveView: 1st README commit Oct 18, 2018, first tagged release Aug 25, 2019
LiveWire: 1st README commit Feb 28, 2019, first tagged release Apr 15, 2019
At any rate, StimulusReflex currently is winning the adoption story by a factor of 4.5x. SR vs LV
This suggests that despite numerous legitimate technical advantages that Elixir can offer, the vast majority of developers still prefer programming in Ruby.
You've made these comments before and as I pointed out then, the readme commit you keep citing wasn't the first LV repo that was publicly viewable.
Yes, Ruby is an older language with a larger base of users than Elixir, just as PHP is an even older language with an even larger base of users.
So what?
Why do you keep trying to grind this axe every time LiveView is mentioned when even StimulusReflex's own documentation lists LiveView as an inspiration?
Is it really that bad to see other projects get recognized for their contributions, too?
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What bothers me is that it's combative and factually incorrect to call people who are excited about a new language "sockpuppets". You've done that before to users here who I knew were real people.
To a lesser degree, arguing about LiveView being an inspiration for StimulusReflex (as its own docs say it was) is tedious.
Arguments based purely on popularity are super common, but have never been compelling to me. In fact, if a tool or technique is ubiquitous then it can't be much of a competitive advantage!
Yes, and PHP was 6 months sooner, not that it has much bearing on the appeal to popularity above. It's far more popular than Ruby ever was. And I'd pick Ruby first for a web project if those were the only two choices.
I don't feel compelled to let the herd chose my tools for me.
This is a much more useful reply, and I appreciate it.
My honest suggestion, then, is that you consider starting or leading a broader conversation in the Elixir community about how best to evangelize Elixir without jumping into threads about Ruby and telling people to use Elixir instead.
It's like... we get it: Jose was a Rails guy, and now he's the Elixir guy. Elixir is a functional language built on the Erlang VM. Raw perf numbers are exciting. We get it.
Just think about how annoying it would be if every time someone mentioned Elixir, someone from the old school Erlang world jumped in like they've been waiting. It sounds absurd, right? Welcome to our predicament.
It plays out on IndieHackers, Hacker News and especially on Twitter.
So yeah, whether the accounts are actual sockpuppets or just people who don't get that it's a bad look to say stuff like
a lot of annoyance can be avoided if Elixir folks focus on making their own case instead of detracting from ours.
This is kind of a surreal critique from you, given that nearly everything I've written about Ruby has been positive here, on HN and on Reddit. In contrast, every time I've seen you comment on Elixir, it's been dismissive or directly attacking other commenters. In fact, in many of the countless "what stack should I use" threads, though not the one Rosie pinned, the top comment was me saying Rails.
The bit you quoted was an attempt at direct and light-hearted response to your own nearly identical comment with the language and frameworks switched. Thus the 🤣.
Thanks, I'll take a look!
Even more exciting (and scalable) is Elixir's Phoenix LiveView: frontends without JavaScript.
I've been learning LiveView and I absolutely love it. Also worth mentioning Laravel's implementation, Livewire, for anyone that uses it!
Ever wonder if someone uses Elixir?
Don't worry about it - they'll tell you.
Well, OP did ask...
Supabase will give frontend devs super powers.
Also i'm working on Versoly which hopefully frontend devs will use to speed up their development of simple websites and apps.
If you're interested to see what I'm up to with DevTrends: https://devtrends.io
A few off the top of my head:
+1 Jamstack. I'm a huge fan, and just wrote a book on it.
Prisma is becoming a fantastic Node ORM: https://www.prisma.io/
Chakra-UI: https://chakra-ui.com/
Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/
next-auth for drop-in authentication with Next.js. I can't believe it's not more popular than it is yet https://next-auth.js.org/
Railway isn't front-end, but is useful for FEDs since it's got free plans for Postgres/Mongo/Redis/MySQL (for connecting your Jamstack SaaS to): https://railway.app/
Can't wait to hear more about DevTrends!
Thanks for the great suggestions!
Flutter 2 was just released recently, Flutter is great for frontend in general.
www.hotwire.dev
HTML over the wire from the ROR team. It includes Both Turbo for steaming server rendered HTML over web sockets, as well as Stimulus JS for interactivity and augmenting.
I do videos on Svelte - I love it! Glad to see others in the space :)
Thanks for the encouragement!