On the other hand, using frameworks later on was a good attempt to standardize things. Having some homegrown GUI nobody knows how to work with isn't an advantage either. Personally I refuse things that "feel" too big (Nuxt/Next), but like Vue... Currently though, I want to get rid of most Javascript so I'll work my way to HTMX or Alpine type solutions with server side templates. Personally the less tech I use the better, there was a time where you had all kinds of bullshit in a web app prior to even adding a single line of custom code.

+1 for HTMX+ Alpine.

Ironically, this goes well with LLMs, where you can nail down the patterns and then the clanker can follow them. There is nothing wrong with using clankers for fast typing.

+1 for htmx + Django, really my favorite stack for development.