So from what I understand…

Someone needs to build Qt’s successor, probably with more beginner-friendly declarative semantics (akin to HCL or Cue) and probably with syntax closest to YAML or Python (based on learning curve, beginner readability etc).

The backend will probably have to be something written in Zig (likely) or Nim (capable, less likely) and will probably have to leverage OpenGL/Metal, WebGL and WASM.

Obviously a massive undertaking, which is why I think the industry has not reached consensus that this is what needs to happen. The less ideal options we have now often gets the job done.

There is Slint (https://slint.dev/), which was a company founded by ex-Qt devs and seem to be trying to make a better alternative to Qt. The core engine is built wiht Rust, but they also provide C++ and JS bindings and also have a QML-like scripting language you can use to design UI quickly. So far I think they've solidified their revenue model by catering to embedded devices, but I haven't seen a solid usecase for desktop apps (yet...)

QML isn’t that different anyway from what you describe